


Twilight Twins

by JabberWockyWednesday



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Angst with a Happy Ending, Baby Teddy Lupin, Cheating, Dead Teddy Lupin, Death Eaters, Disability, Disfigurement, F/M, Good Severus Snape, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Loss, Major Original Character(s), Manip, Married Couple, Ministry of Magic Employee Draco Malfoy, Minor Hermione Granger/Ron Weasley, Multi, Muteness, Original Character(s), Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Powerful Hermione, Ron Weasley Bashing, Sacrifice, Self-Sacrifice, Snape Survived the war, Twins, Years Later, after the war
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-23
Updated: 2018-12-07
Packaged: 2018-12-18 23:55:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 21
Words: 67,224
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11885556
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JabberWockyWednesday/pseuds/JabberWockyWednesday
Summary: As Lucius put it, the Twins refusal to turn to darkness was a betrayal of the highest degree and their punishment right as it was harsh. In the hour of a fallen soldiers need, Ember and Aven Fields pull from the shadows in perfect unison, taking the Potions Master from his bloodied corner when all eyes were turned away. Three years later, the casket of Severus Snape remains empty and a broken man looks towards home.A mute Snape and a tired Lucius. A cheating Ron and a decent Draco. Minerva has lost so many people and Remus and Tonks have lost their child and in turn each other. Hermione is happy for Ginny and Harry, but can't speak highly for her own love life. Pureblood twins built of dark magic live hidden in the countryside away from who will hurt them. Rivalries built on blood loyalties and wrongful death will have to meet again as old scars are torn open. Will Severus ever get his voice back? Or will he be damned to the isolation silence will bring him?





	1. To Start with

Time: Three years after the final war.

Multi POVs

_See these italics? Flashbacks and Snapes thoughts . You'll be able to tell the differences._

We are enjoying the words and definitions from, "The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows" along with foreign words and their definitions. I made up Aven and Ember but the rest of the Harry Potter world belongs to JK.

ENJOY!

* * *

  
  
**Dead Reckoning -(** TDOOS **)**

**Noun.**

**To find yourself bothered by someone's death more than you would have expected.**

The war against Tom Riddle and his darkened followers had occurred over three years ago and I'm pleased to say that the English Wizarding World was just finishing up repairing it'self from the last of its damages. The Ministry had been restored and the darkness of evil seemed to finally be fading from the front of peoples minds as days pass without the comparable weight which had once hung so heavily and constantly. At long last, and to the relief of many, the world seemed to be calm once again; a blanket dissipated from in front of the sun that now shown brightly upon the restored lands and grounds of the ancient school.

But not all had gone as planned.

In the immediate clean up of the war, between deaths, arrests and healing, Hermione, Harry, and Ron brought Professor McGonagall and a Ministry healer to the Shrieking Shack to collect the body of their past potions master. To the disbelief of everyone, the man was missing in form, but not his blood. The blood will still there.... splattered grotesquely against the wall and running down in heavy ended drips. There was so much of it that it pooled on the dusty, broken wooden floor and lay drying around a body shaped space in the middle of it all. Minerva would take a step back, away from everyone else. This was her moment of weakness in the aftermath of death; the breaking of the woman who though hardly showed anything was clearly deeply upset. He hadn't attacked her... He helped her attack them.... and Minerva regrets the things that she had said to him before that. According to the three, there was no way he could move on his own which meant the body had been moved, most likely through magic means that were of a strength he wouldn't have been able to muster. Unfortunately, with no proof or way to find out by whom or where he'd been taken too, Severus Snape was called for missing and a manhunt was sent out. Notices were on all the highest circuits seeking for the brave teacher who was gravely injured, but the funeral was still held accordingly for those who knew he was most likely dead only three months later. The Order and Hogwarts staff stood had alongside the Malfoys and a few scattered others in respectful silence that windy day in the graveyard and Hermione could have sworn to seeing Draco crying with his mother while his father stood motionless with bloodshot eyes and a slight drunken sway in his stance. The world was very quiet as Severus Snapes coffin was lowered into the group, however empty it was of the actual man.

Those of the Order who survived became family; Charlie had died and Fred critically wounded though had survived and was still in recovery even this long after. Tonks sacrificed everything for the child she could not save and a wedge was placed between husband and wife who now took time apart to personally heal from their injuries that festered on the skin as it did in the heart. There are other stories that will be told at another time, but it's important to know that war has not yet left, though the ash marks and broken stone are gone. That had all been a few years ago, and life most certainly goes on.

...

Hermione Granger walked the sidewalk of the busy London street before turning into a mixed media shop and giving a small smile to the owners. She had since been hired at the Ministry and was working to equalize Magic and Muggle acceptance. A store such as this, a half-blood store with both world selling for the mixed family home, this would have been under relentless attack by Voldemort, but had since done nothing but flourish. There was still bias, but remaining Deatheaters had gone into hiding and though their arrests were rare, they were still made known through the Daily Prophet. Hermione had realized a long time ago that no matter what topic, there would always be an opposite side or opinion, and that was what she worked for, keeping that middle ground between the two sides quiet and respectful.

She exchanged some Ministry paperwork while speaking happily with the well-mannered family who offered her a cup of lemonade and a few chocolate frogs for her way out. Hermione was very well liked within the worlds around her as well as the Ministry, and she tried her hardest to keep it that way which made her parents, who had regained their memory and since connected more their magical daughter, very proud indeed. Saying her parting as she stepped out the door, Hermione turned to the street, taking a moment on the stoop before stepping into the busy crowd. She walked with the mass of pedestrians when a cold, but slightly familiar force came from ahead of her and found a cobwebby space between two vertebrae where it settled with a cold, resinating chill of her childhood. She maneuvered to the front of the crowd, stopping at the corner to wait for the change of light.

She could have sworn...

"Professor Snape!" Hermione called to the turning away figure dawned all in black on the other side of the crosswalk. Whoever it was had been approching, she was right about this but now they turned. In a hurry, Hermione looked both ways before she took off but had still landed with her hands on the hood of a screeching car as she attempted to race across the active street.

"Professor, Snape!"

Once across, she pulled away from the standing crowd who watched her carefully looked around desperately. She wasn't sure if what she saw was real, or even her old Professor.... Either way, the figure was gone now as was the chill she remembered, and Hermione she gave a sigh of defeat as she looked around a final time before starting back on her original path.

...

Hermione decided to keep this event to herself, but Ginny always knew when something was on her mind and once lowering herself into the armchair, Ginny almost-Potter confronted her about what it was.

"Did anyone ever find, Snape?" Hermione asked, bringing Ginny to widen her eyes.

"Ummm. No.. I haven't heard anything and I bet Harry would have told me.."

"But he was missing, right?" Hermione interrupted. "If he was never found and he was moved... There is a chance he's alive?"

Ginny stopped here and leaned back giving Hermione a once over.

"What's going on?" Ginny asked.

"I thought I saw him today.." She whispered.

"Where? What?" Ginny now excited, moved closer.

"In London. I didn't get a good look but whoever it was had black hair and... wore all black.." Hermione ended weakly, hearing the foolishness in her words.

"Hermione," Ginny laughed. "That explains so many people it's ridiculous."

"I know but…" Hermione stopped, bringing Ginny to scrunch her brow a bit, "I remember that feeling he would give off while in school. That dark feeling that would make sure you were out of his way before even seeing him.. I felt it right before I saw whoever I saw.. Maybe it wasn't him...But the energy.. the energy was so familiar.

The two sat in a rare silence that was broken by either twin coming over the couch and landing on either side of Ginny.

"What r' we talking about?" George asked grinning from ear to ear, as Fred came around the side of the couch slowly and lowered himself painfully on the seat next to his sister.

"Nothing.." Ginny said looking at Hermione with a smile. "Nothing at all."


	2. A Long Time Waiting.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A Long Time Waiting.

**A Long Time Waiting.**

**Gnossienne (** TDOOS **)**

**Noun.**

**A moment of awareness that someone you've known for years still has a private and mysterious inner life.**

**Hermione Granger.**

Another week, another work day.

Hermione Granger makes her way through the Muggle midday rush with her best friend Harry, his fiance Ginny, and her continued boyfriend, Ron. The rush of war and brush with death had Harry never taking a day for granted and he had quickly made his relationship with Ginny serious and most recently proposed which came as a delight to everyone around. Fresh out of Hogwarts, Ginny was already planning her life around Quittach as Harry worked within the Ministry as an Auror as Ron worked at a magic shop in Diagon Alley. Currently, the Hogwarts school year was in progress which brought days that were busy and daily schedules that rarely matched up. Harry and Ron had taken time for their weekly lunch with Hermione and Ginny, from which they were currently leaving from.

"And then I told her: No, Marland, I have the executive reports. Those are executive to do lists." Hermione continued brightly bringing the group around her, sans Ronald, to burst out with laughter. 

The conversion would soon fade into partings as their walk neared a large town park where the group would disband when suddenly, her thoughts were pulled from her friends as the feeling of that familiar darkening energy invaded her space. Pulling out of traffic, and without a word to the others, she places her back against the brick wall of a near by business they were passing and examines those who move in front of her. She notices a flash of black that matches the energy from a few weeks ago, and quickly, desperate not to lose him again, pulls from her questioning group with a wave of her hand, and wordlessly follows on her own, leaving her friends in shock.

Blind to anything else around her, she felt with certainty as she zeroed in on the energy and when her pace picked up, she found that the tall figure in front of her did as well. She watched through people who zigzagged by them as the behavior of the hooded man she thought to be her teacher, became more frantic. From the crowd, she heard people speaking out in protest as the figure in front of her began to push aside those too slow.

"Professor Snape!" Hermione called above the crowd and her beating heart, and her eyes widened in shock when the form picked up into a full out sprint.

She was so sure it was him at this point and she followed with the same athleticism as in her school years. She followed him in a quick and swift jog down the block, slipping in and out people with ease when at the last moment, using the sharp sight that if it wasn't for her childhood she would have missed, Hermione Granger caught the black cloaked figure slip into a darkened alley.

This was it, she realized and taking a deep breath she slowed her stride. She stopped before stepping into sight and into the mouth of the darkened, space because she needed a moment to think and rationalize. As much as she wanted to hold her wand for protection, everything she had known about the man argued her instincts and Hermione took a final breath to calm. No wand, she decided. Straightening herself quickly and with a heavy leg, she stepped into view and peered down the alley. Indeed, there was a tall, shadowy figure halfway down the narrow, brick way and she noticed that the figure's body was moving as if catching its breath as well as unaware of her presence.

"Professor Snape?" She asked quietly as she stepped past the first of the littered papers and wall stacked boxes.

The form instantly straightened and Hermione raised both open hands and showed her palms while taking a step into the shade. The black cloaked creature took backward steps away, curving at the shoulders and leering from inside the shadow of its hood. She was so sure now and she took a slow breath and quietly repeated his old title while dropping her hands.

With another step, she was another step closer and the figure was another step away.

"Professor Snape."

The cloaked figure matched her steps with those of her own and eventually would back into a sunlit area just behind an intersecting ally that x'd the single lane. One side ran to the another street as to the other, a tall, brick dead end. At first glance, her feet stopped and her eyes widened in surprise to the lighted face and form of Severus Snape as he pulled his hood back slightly and stood tall, exposing himself for her identification in the ray of cloud broken sun.

"Professor..?" Hermione tried for the third time as he continued his trademark snarl that came from behind strands of black hair as he backed up another, single step.

"Professor..?"

"He's not going to answer you." A matter of fact tone in a woman's voice came from the right, down the connected lane that lead to the dead end.

Hermione twists around on her toe just in time for a second figure to sweep past her and up to the Potions Master, but she'd have to twist a final time to finally seeing who had spoken. Finally caught up, she watched the woman dressed in a long black cloak land at the side of the still glaring man who had since raised his hood back over his head. Hermione looked between the two in slight shock, unable to pull much of anything from her racing mind or tightening throat. How could this be, was the only thought she could master, but was not what she could say.

The woman turned her cool, but fire colored gaze to Hermione and gave a small smile before turning back to Snape and brushing a lock of hair from in front of his face back into his hood; the teacher's eyes lulled just slightly at her touch. 

"...What..?" she eventually struggles out.

"He can't talk." She said simply, dropping her hand and speaking in a harsher tone as if Hermione should have understood.

She looked to be about the same age as the Professor, with long dark, dark brown hair that cascaded down her back and is pointed like a blade at the end. Her spiky bangs fell past her cheekbones and waved like silk as she moved about. She wore a worn, black calf length, hip-hugging coat that was buttoned at the waist, as a pair of black cargo pants and tracking boots covered her legs and protected her feet. Hermione took a step back as the feeling of overwhelming took her like an ocean wave. She looked up to see the woman give Snape's wrist a squeeze before turning and stepping up to her.

"Are you, Hermione Granger?" She asked with a shy, narrowed eyed look but warm smile. Her eyes are watching Hermione's fingers which are foolishly premeditating her wands hidden placement on her hip under her robe. As the older woman still chose to continue her steps and Hermione continued backward, leaving Snape to slip himself into the shadows and lean hunched against the wall with his hands in his coat pockets and eyes set in a glare on the two before him.

Suddenly, remembering who she was, Hermione pulled together some sort of bureaucracy braveness and stopped her steps, allowing two more steps taken before the woman stopped hers as well. Hermione brought her attention back from Snape then to the woman before giving a nod as her answer.

"My name is not important, but this event is." The woman started in a light but serious voice that resonated kindness while her appearance was that of a hungry snake.

A Slytherin, Hermione decided to herself.

"Here." The woman began patting her pockets. "A peace offering, I could understand how nerving this is.."

She pulled a chocolate bar from her pocket and extended the wrapped treat in her open palm to Hermione who took it, not arguing kindness or allowing for potential rudeness to set a scene she couldn't come back from. With ease she rips the wrapping and takes a bite before glancing past the woman to Snape, thinking to herself as she chews her bite. Looking him over she noticed his hair had grown longer and currently hung over his face and its tips came from the hood and hung past his collar.  Evidently, he still acted vile in his irritated expression and angry glinting eyes, but he hadn't said anything, which came to nerve her greatly. 

"Professor Snape…" She whispered.

The woman looked from her own chocolate to over her shoulder and toward the man who stood alone and gave a small smile.

"Yeah… pretty beat up, huh?" Her smile faded as she addressed Hermione kindly again.

"Come here." She called to him, and Hermione was not surprised when the dark teacher refused to even flinch.

"Severus. Come here." She called again, and Hermione watched his head tilt towards the side for a moment before he pushed off the wall and slowly walks up to the two of them.

"You're alive." Hermione breathed as Severus greeted the proclamation with a slight bow from his waist as he landed himself a step behind the woman's shoulder.

The woman placed a hand on Severus's back and a looked up at the man who glared at Hermione.

"Yup.." The woman answered for him.

"But.." Hermione's world started spiraling with questions as she recalled the Shrieking Shack... The blood.. his throat.. and the funeral. Everything..

"Take a bite and calm, Miss. Granger." The woman who still went unnamed attempted to soothe. "I can understand why this is coming as a tad of a shock." 

'Tad of a shock!" Hermione exasperated before taking a bite of her chocolate not because she was told to, but because she knew it's worth.

"There you go.." The woman sighed kindly as Hermione clearly relaxed.

"But.. I don't understand.. It's been years and…" Hermione turned from Snape to the woman, "You took him from the house?"

"Yes. I'm also the one who healed him.. and what a strain that was." She smiled jokingly as Hermione watched the man's scarred upper lip curl.

Here, Hermione took a moment and examined the form of her thought-to-be deceased professor up close. She ran her eyes over the gleaming white scars that daggered up from above his covered neck and over his jaw line. One, in particular, ripped up through the side of his mouth and curved out to the outside of his face just under his nostril. Feeling sick, the image of Najini flashes through her mind. She can hear the sound deafening her ears as the memory of the noise the snake made came back uncontrolled. Hermione looked away and noticed a few smaller scars that had made it into view from under sleeves and marked up his hands and fingers. Still, he looked better fed and overall more healthy than when he was a teacher, though his movements were very stiff and his body looked weaker in spirit and personal exhaustion. She looks up and meets his eyes that are already, still, holding on her. The well black eyes that glared at her were still the same dead glare as ever, and his expression and pose stayed the same still, cold composure as in her school days. A toxic mixture of anti-social and angry. It seemed that nothing had really changed in the man but time.

"I knew everything from the start." The woman's voice brought Hermione's attention back, though she kept locked eyes with the teacher still trying to believe he was really in front of her.

"We had a deal.. Severus and I.. There seemed more to be done in his life.. Another objective he had yet to fulfill…. He told me at the end he wanted to live on his free will. "

Her hand dropped from his back, and Snape never wavered his cold, angry eyes that continued to pierce Hermione.

"So he can't talk?" She asked, suddenly feeling as if she were at a zoo. Yes, Professor Snape is terrifying.. but there was something.. different now that the man's much worse bark had been silenced.

"Nope." The woman shrugged, "Well, not yet anyway… And neither can you."

Hermione's head snapped over to the woman, "What?"

"Hermione, please understand it's not my request. It's his." Hermione's eyes flashed to Severus as the unnamed woman continued. The air changed and the space became very serious.  "I told you everything you asked and more to keep you content. He knows he's not ready to go back into society.. and I have to agree…" She shook her head. "Look. You're the only one that knows.. We've even gone as far as not to inform the Malfoys or even Minerva… You can not be the reason his security is compromised."

"But, we all know the truth.. We know he was a hero."

A huff came from Snape's nose as he pushed off his toe and brushed by Hermione as he started up the shadowed alley. The woman didn't follow him and before he made it half way away he must have realized that because he stopped and chose to lean against a nearby wall when his glare did not bring the woman to follow.

"Meaning there will be more publicity and attention than Professor Snape even wanted in life." She said softly, "You had in school, Hermione…" Here the two women met eyes and Hermione found herself completely transfixed on the fire waving in her gaze, "he was your teacher for six years… Can you really tell me a man like Severus Snape will flourish in limelight as he is right now…?"

Even without thinking about it, Hermione had to agree. The professor had always been a solitary creature, always lurking in the dungeons and pushing everyone around him away. He never allowed for the slightest thought of disruption to his silence. For Snape to come to light.. without even voice of his own.. It would indeed do far worse than good in every aspect Hermione could think of.

"How..?" Hermione tried and failed to formulate just one question.

"Long… long hours and full months with little sleep…" Hermione looked up at the woman who looked at Severus's hunched form in sad thought. "In the beginning, things were very rocky... Very, touch and go…. For nearly a year he had to be in a coma and fed through injection while his neck healed. He breathed artificially because his throat was to.... well...Destroyed... " She looked away. "For the longest time, I believed it all to be pointless."

Here Severus raised his head and looked over at her frowning expression with his own hard and emotionless one, before adjusting his position and replacing his eyes in the direction of the brick wall in front of him.

"Hermione," The woman started again, turning to Hermione and addressing her fully now, "It's really important you don't look for him, talk about him or follow him again. You know he's alive.. That'll have to be enough.."

"But.."

"He will come out of recovery soon enough. I promise you will see him again. But right now, even though to you he might not deserve it.. Professor Snape needs to be left alone.. It's all he ever wanted and he needs it now more than ever… He's doing so well.. I mean, I never thought I'd see him walking again... I can't have him slipping away again because he gets too stressed, and um..."

Hermione looked down to see a flash of the silver handle of the woman's wand as it came exposed from inside her sleeve, "I mean it when I say I can't."

A rock clattered off the wall and both women looked over to see Snape pushing off the brick and standing in a pose that brought Hermione to think he was ready to leave.

"Yeah.. fine." The woman agreed to Snape's silence and turned a final time back to Hermione.

"Please." The woman pressed a final time, slipping her wand from view and lightening her tone.

"I promise," Hermione promised with Gryffindor oath to what she truly did understand.

With a nod, she watched the woman give a hopeful smile and move away from her. She walked up and laced her arm with Severus's who quickly drew his deep hood fully again and took the first steps away. Hermione watched the pair leave the alley without another word. The moment before disappearing around the corner, Hermione would meet eyes a final time with the unnamed woman who held fire in her stare, and who looked at her nervously before stepping out of view and into the London population with the man who was known to the world as dead.


	3. It's Like Explaining the Color Red

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Italics mean thoughts and flashback.  
> Legilimency now includes the ability to have your voice heard in the others mind and in the space.  
> I think that's it!  
> Enjoy!

**It's Like Explaining the Color Red**

 

**Lachesism (DOOS)**

 

**_n._  the desire to be struck by disaster**

 

_***Flashback*** _

_"Damn, I thought that kid would never leave." A male voice shimmered through Severus's haze, and his throat gave a low moan as the consciousness that brought the voice also brought the unimaginable pain._

_"Merlin, Av… Look at his neck... " A female voice came clearer to him as if she stood closer than the male._

_"Severus… Are you alive..? Severus….."_

_He was so weak and the feeling of escaping blood made him sick, bringing vomit to rise in the form of gurgled blood and stomach acid that burned his neck even more. He forced open his eyes to see the face of Ember Fields and a fuzzed figure that stood over her that he would guess was her twin brother, Aven. If not him, it was surely Death._

_"Do you want to us to go?" Her voice whispered silently as she picked up his hand._

_It was a question he was never able to answer until now, and although his promise to Lily had been sealed with the final look into her emerald eyes, something in him had sparked, a sort of fight he didn't understand; but soul took over and his hand twitched twice in hers, signifying his plea for life._

_And so they acted...._

**_End_ **

...

It had been the most painful years of Severus's life. A time where he was the weakest in front of those who he never wanted to have held that memory. He stood by the stove, heating the kettle for tea and leaning his weight against the counter. He wasn't doing anything because he was avoiding bringing attention to himself from the scurrying Ember, who moved around him as he wondered to himself again, for the uncountable time since he woke up that very first night, why he asked for life at all.

"Have you created any sort of idea of when you'll be going back?" Ember's voice came to attention as she wiped down the small, round kitchen table behind him.

Severus stared at the flames of the burner and shrugged a shoulder.

She looked up and leaned her waist against the table before raising an eyebrow, "Do you think you'll turn your Legilimency on with me anytime soon?"

Again, a slight shrug and Ember turned away with a sigh.

It had been her and twin brother Aven who rescued Severus that night and brought him back to their cottage in off grid England. Back then he had used his mental communication, back when he just rose to consciousness. But now, for whatever reason, he had silenced himself with her and the twins believed it was connected with the trauma and a sort of personal shame.

Severus knew Ember and Aven Fields from his Hogwarts years but back then they were called The Twilight Twins, as dubbed by the Marauders. Only two years below him and active blue collared purebloods, their parents commingled within some high-end crowds which placed them into the respectful view of Lucius. The twins always presented themselves with dignity, their flawless twin abilities astounding many as they slipped through the halls of Hogwarts in a silent and ominous manner. They often spoke quietly and in their own language, and did this openly in front of friends and even staff. They were sharp and skilled Slytherins, who held much practice in everything dark and taboo even from such an early age.

They had announced their presence and threat in their second year. It was when James Potter tripped Ember one day in the halls in an event that quickly resulted in an explosion of dark magic that sent four Marauders to the hospital wing and left a grave and chilling scene of the twins standing over the unconscious and bleeding James Potter. Standing hand in hand and in thick silence, Minerva McGonagall had arrived first and quickly summoned for help as the large crowd of students refused to disperse to her angry demands.

Severus and Lucius had been part of that crowd.

Ember was a stunning in the name of Slytherin. She had a flawless doll like complexion with a sharp perfect smile and a fire that constantly burned in her dark amber eyes. Her hair was naturally two shades of highlighted dark brown and black, and for the longest time was worn in pigtails that gave her a sense of immaturity and innocence in her school uniform, that her sarcastic expressions and rough behavior argued terribly against. Incredibly bright and charismatic, full of life and drive, she did what she wanted and was sly and skilled with plans, locks, and smiles. Her words twist with manipulation and sweet purity.

And if there were ever to be born a counter opposite to Ember it was surely, Aven.

The slightly older twin was near silent, though not any less silver tongued when needed. Aven was extremely perceptual and analytic, he was skilled in psychology and the workings of the human mind and body. He would often be found behind his sister, watching silently and pinpointing every weakness of those his sister chose to spend time with. He was hardly ever far from Ember and was overprotective. Of course, he was also the only one who could control Ember's flame and bring her to listen in more heated times. His hair was a dark brown almost black, and hung straight past his shoulders in the back and layered up his pale face, giving him bangs that hung in front of his piercing violet eyes and pale, strong facial features.

It didn't take more than a second for Severus to see that they would be close friends from the beginning.

Remaining untainted, they turned on Lucius's bad side when they refused their mark as they finished their seventh year, saying they did not believe in pure and dirty blood difference. They called Lucius shallow and pushed the man into a two to one corner, pinning him into a position that made him pull his wand from under their laughter. Not too far after the event, Ember and Aven were attacked by Death Eaters for blood betrayal and pushed out into the far off country of England and into silent hiding. This attack would take their parents, take their home and their public identity. Silently, in a single night, the world would come believe the entire Fields family died in a terrible fire. The strike that shown Malfoys hurt pride and resentment sent a rip through the friendships and from that point on, Severus's communication with the twins would go about in secret. Severus was alright with this as he started making secret plans with them that spanned years of silence and lived through notes and a since dead red haired women.

"Severus…" A cold voice slithered into the space.

He turned using his waist and glanced up at Aven who stood on the threshold of the dim lit kitchen. He looked like a banshee, like something evil crawling out of a dark place with its glowing violet, angry eyes.

"She pushes because she cares." He informs quietly with a hardness in his voice.

 _"She pushes because she wants me out."_ Severus slipped his words through Avens mind while flashing his eyes irritably into the corner of the room.

"Is that really what you think, or is that your damaged pride talking?"

Severus communicated no more and Aven watched Severus pour himself tea and take a seat at the kitchen table. Fluidly, Aven moved into the chair across from Severus and pulled various vials from his pocket and pushed them towards the silent man.

He studied Severus for a moment as the man uncapped and swallowed each vial before landing them on the table. When they were all laid, Aven would gather what was empty and slip himself from the seat. Severus remained silent with his gaze watching the steaming tea as he listened to Aven move to the kitchen threshold.

"She pushes because she cares." He said sternly before stepping from the room.


	4. To Fly With Owls and Sing with Crickets.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter! Let's go!

**To Fly With Owls and Sing with Crickets.**

**Resfeber (Swedish)**

**Noun.**

**The nervous feeling before undertaking a journey; the restless race of a travelers heart before the journey begins, when anxiety and anticipation tangled together**

It was very late, but old habits rarely change and Severus found himself still at the kitchen table of the medium sized farmhouse hours later that same night. From his spot at the table, he listened to the croaking and chirping of the animals by the pond and in the field beyond the house. He listened to the chickens that cluck from the pen next to the house, and the sound of the purring barn cat that lay under his stroking fingers.

He looked down at the cat and pulled his hand away, receiving belly up and a mew of objection.

The cat's name was, Baggins.

Baggins.

He copied the letters with his lips once before trying to pull anything out of his throat. Nothing came and he tried again only bringing a painful hissing noise from deep within his neck. Severus cracked his fist off the wood table top before pushing back into the chair, scaring the cat away as he turned to glare out the open window.

The twins had explained the chances of his voice coming back were pretty strong, but it would take a long time for the improvements to be seen. True, it had already been three years, but he could only count the last year and a half as being conscious and he had only just recently started walking distances little less than a year ago. His throat was closed and for the most part mended, but only to the point of tolerating cold liquid and just that. He knew his voice would not return until that was healed first, and that the healing process as promised seemed to be a long endeavor, indeed. Nagini had done her job quite well and frankly, there wasn't much more the snake had to have done. Severus found his fingertips under his hood, tracing down his jaw until his fingers fell into the ravine of one of the many deep scars that ripped up from his jaw and onto his face as he sat in the collarless robe and black button down shirt. Unable to feel any lower without vomiting, his hand is taken away as his mind drifts to Ember. He feels a pang of guilt rise again at the thought of shutting her out. She had been there for him constantly in the past, to often.... In school, she and Aven fought back against the Marauders who attempted to target them for much of the same reason as they did for him. A marvel would be conducted by the pair that would finish the bullying as quickly as it had started for on the second month of the twins second year, the two would show why they were not to mettled with like the rest of the school could be.  But that was then.. and now, after saving his life and taking the last three years slaving over him with her brother, Severus couldn't find his thoughts for her and he understood how terrible of a person that made him.

The other day with Hermione Granger.

He still couldn't believe she found him, let alone chased him. He had just recently started taking trips into London; this had been only his fifth visit and they had always been short and in muggle lands as his energy quickly dissolved under his weakened body and hectic surroundings. He had never wanted to be exposed, never wanted to be noticed. He had decided to walk the street alone as he planned on meeting up with the twins in a muggle district of town not long from then. Actually, he was on his way to meet them. How Ember knew where he was and how she got there, was beyond him but he learned a long time ago not question them. He never saw Aven but knew better than everything else to think that he wasn't there. 

He had seen her first, Hermione Granger, and he was so sure if he kept his hood up and put enough people between them he could have slipped away. She looked older. Well, she was older he reasoned quickly. Technically two years from Hogwarts, he had read that the trio, sans Hermione, hadn't returned for the finalization of their schooling and instead got jobs. Harry is in the Ministry, and Ronald now owned a shop. Hermione worked in the Ministry now too, but he didn't know much beyond that. He didn't know anything beyond that. The twins didn't order The Daily Profit and he had only found himself on magic grouds once in their few visits which is when he picked up and slipped away an issue labled, Three Years Later. All he knew, is that her curled hair had calmed, her face had grown as did her eyes, but the one thing he noticed on top of everything else on that day and the short time in that alley, was that Hermione Granger looked extremely, extremely unharmed.

Rising from the table to change his thoughts, he had grown a nasty habit of evaluating those around him and their physical disfigurements as a way to scope out how easily they had lived out their lives. With a flick of his wand as he walks across the kitchen, his cup of tea floats up and lands in the sink with just the slightest _ting._ He shoved his hands in the pockets of his robes and slipped up the wooden steps, destined to the bedroom they dedicated to him and his healing which lay at the furthest end of the hall. Passing the first of the parallel rooms that belonged to the twins, Severus noticed that Avens lights were off while light flickered from under its opposite. He slowed his steps and glanced to the crack under Avens door once more before giving a small knock on Embers.

"Yeah?" He heard from inside.

He opened the door to her approval and as he stepped into view, her face turned to an awkward smile as she moved her legs off the side of the bed and examined him with light suspicion.

"Anything I can do for you, Severus?" She asked cocking an eyebrow, attempting to prompt a conversation in what had become a regular game between them in the last year.

He stepped further into the room and looked around. He couldn't pull any words up, from his throat or from his mind, and he kept his neck stiff as his eyes continued to coldly scan the room.

"I don't mind."

Severus turned at the hip, meeting her attention and furrowing his brow in confusion.

"I mean.. I was upset for awhile. After everything.." She looked away from him. "It feels..weird that you don't communicate to me anymore. I'm not sure what I did, b-.."

He looked away and followed his neck with his body, taking steps away from his spot and slipping into the comfortable space by the bookshelf and began to blindly read book bindings.

"I just figure," Ember continued, looking at the floorboards for a moment, "If you didn't like me, you wouldn't be here. In the past year or.. right now."

Her eyes flashed up to him, and Severus gave a stiff nod with his head in agreement before slipping them both into an awkward silence.

"Iiiiss there something else you need?"

He twitched his head no but did not make way to leave. Ember smirked and pushed off the bed and shuffled over to him while tying her bathrobe closed as she moved up to his side. The man would never allow himself to drop his darkened posture, never once did he ever look anything but disgruntled or tense. If Severus didn't walk into her room alone, Ember could quickly believe that he was being forced. It was something she loved about him, the fact she had been chipping at his walls for so long and still, he remained chillingly cold and stone faced even in the most private of situations. This was him, and she had accepted that a long time ago.

Severus filched to her raising hand but closed his eyes as her soft fingers traced over his cheek. His neck limped forward just slightly and his hair fell to mask his expression.

"Say my name." She whispered softly.

He tightened his eyes and curled his lip as her index finger gripped his chin. Her thumb stroked his cheek and then the scar that ran the length of the underside of his sharp jawline. She then pulled his chin back from his attempt to turn away and took another step closer to him.

"Just...try. For me." She pushed with feeling in her eyes that he was determined to avoid.

His onyx eyes flashed through her for only a moment and his body shifted, suddenly uncomfortable under her touch. Reading his cues flawlessly, she dropped her hand from under hi hood which brought him to suddenly feel like that cat downstairs who vocally objected earlier. He glared unconsciously at her as she stepped away, giving the man space he wasn't sure he wanted.

He brought his lips to slowly trace her name but no sound came forward and her fingers quickly grabbed his shirt when he physically pulled himself away from his failure, and in the direction of the door.

"Stop that." He did stop pulling, though didn't look any less disgruntled. "The fact is you tried for me... I'm not mad at you and you can't be mad at yourself either."

He brought himself up to full height and looked down at her for a moment before resting a hand on the back of her shoulder before pulling me closer. He lowered his forehead onto the crown of her head and slid his fingers over the bare of the back of her neck. He held the position for a moment and pressed his forehead into her hair before taking a step back and dropping his hands.

Ember met the sharp eyes of Severus and gave the man she refused to let go of, a respectful bow and smile which he, never breaking from his cold behavior, bowed back then quietly stepped from her room.

* * *

A week passed uneventfully in its normal, quiet farm style way, and as the warm spring night whispered through the cracked bedroom window, Aven sat up against the headboard of the bed aside his beloved twin as she lay on her back with her head on her pillow. Her eyes were up at the deep purple canopy above her and Aven glanced down and watched the sides of her fire like eyes as they glint and sparked in the low candle light.

"Whats on your mind, sister." He asked her in a language none but them will ever know, his voice quiet and soothing.

"Severus." she groaned, not disguising him.

She rolled onto her stomach and sighed heavily into the pillow.

Aven lifted his hand and ran his fingers through her soft, silky hair. "What about him?"

"Did we do the right thing, Aven?" He falls into their language seamlessly.

He looked down at the back of her head and furrowed his brow.

"What do you mean?"

"Is he really happier alive?" She adjusted to face him, "He was caught by Hermione over a week ago and hasn't left the house since…. I love him like family, and I'm happy he's alive and he's here...but...I'm not sure he's happy about either."

"He asked us to save him.." Aven said simply, examining the wall across from him.

"But was it just in the moment?"

Aven leaned the back of his head against the headboard and brought his hand down on Embers shoulder for a moment before giving a heavy pat.

"Mum used to say, in the moment where thought is invalid and all that is left are the choices made by our souls, only then is when we as humans make our most meant and honest decisions. His soul asked for us to rescue him. It's up to him to find out why."

Ember stayed silent to her brother's wise point for a long time and after a thoughtful moment, she took his hand in hers and asked through sleepy eyes and a soulful yawn, for him to stay until she fell asleep.

**......**

**Aven Fields Pov.**

Less than an hour later, Aven slipped from his sister's bed with hardly a bother and traveled unnoticed until he stopped at the bedroom's threshold and turned around before leaving. He looked at her and watched her sleep for a quiet moment. Flicking his fingers, Aven watched the blankets tuck Ember in before he slowly turned away and closed the door behind him.

He made his way down the stairs, unable to sleep, and as usual, he decided for a walk along the property. Pulling a light travel cloak off the hook and over his shoulders and hood over his head, Aven slipped from the house in silence and began his travels past the little farm which forcibly became his home.

_It had been not even a week after graduation. Lucius had made his offer clear, and Severus stayed silent in the corner, watching them like some beaten dog. Lucius had pushed their pureblood heritage like it meant something, and yelled when they laughed and turned their back to him._

Aven's attention rose to the oinking of pigs that his footsteps on the gravel path brought, and he hushed the animals as he passed their pen, assuring them breakfast was not too far.

_It was stupid to him, the entire thing. Wrongful deaths of good people should not be determined by things out of one's conceptual control. Undoubtedly, Ember thought the same thing and after a swift and powerful duel between the blond cobra, Ember and Aven popped from the Manor where about a month later they were attacked by a band of masked assassins._

The lush long grass hung over the path as flowers dotted the vast meadow yard and Aven dropped his hand and passed his fingertips over the thick blades of grass and soft flower petals. Around him, fire fly's twinkle between blades of long grass and through that of the near ground touching branched of the scattered willow trees that dotted the yard. A buzzing of intuition suddenly came to his ears and without looking up, Aven turned down the barn and paddock path. He quickly noticed the four work horses standing together by the fence all directed in one area. Pulling his wand, he narrowed his eyes and slipped through the fence posts.

_Pitiful.. cowards..._

_They hid their sin behind silver masks as if they were something to be feared. He remembered turning to look over his shoulder at the burning house that their great-great-great-great grandfather built so many generations ago as he carried his sister away._

Crouching low, Aven used tactics and natural skills, along the large bodies of the horses to remain unnoticed as he closed in.

_They had hurt Ember that night._

_He carried her through magic travel and his own weakened foot steps. Bleeding from the head and suffering from his own plaguing wounds. He begged her to hang on as four of Bellatrix's throwing knives stuck through her front, poisoning her system painfully._

Using silent magic, Aven stepped out harshly and cracked a spell above the horse's heads, making them rear and scatter off. The moon struck Severus's face and Aven lowered his wand and straightened his position as Severus raised an eyebrow as he stayed leaning against the outside of the fence.

"Sorry, mate." Aven huffed as he pulled himself up and over the fence.

Landing himself on Severus's side, he whistled a sharp noise to bring the horse's back. Severus refused to look at him, and instead, he ran teeth over his bottom lip, adjusting his jaw angrily as the horse he must have been petting came back and nudged his hand.

" _I came here to be left alone."_  Severus's thoughts simmered through the air between them.

"Yeah, well, I came here because I didn't have a choice."

Severus dropped his head, bringing his hair to slip over his shoulders and break up his snarl.

_"It wasn't my fault."_

"But, you did nothing to prevent it."

Aven had pushed too far, and the feeling of Severus locking away became obvious in the once open air between them.

The silence passed with the noise of crickets and toads. Severus ran his scarred fingers over the horses face before giving a quiet huff that brought Aven's attention back up to his friend.

 _"I want to go back to my flat.."_  Severus's words quietly slithered through Avens mind. " _I want to see what has happened to my parents' home."_

"Do you know anything?" Aven asked readjusting his position.

_"A private request was for the Malfoy family to take it. Use it and all the information as well as the private and secure labs for their own doings."_

"Do you really think they still have it? It's not very…. Malfoy.."

_"My reported death was over three years ago… At this point, it's all they would have left of me…"_

Aven looked away and scratched his horses face a final time before pushing off the fence.

"Alright. When do we go?"

" _Two days."_


	5. A Still Life Scene, Empty But Not Forgotten

**Enjoy!**

* * *

**A Still Life Scene, Empty But N** **ot Forgotten**

**_Antematter_ **

**_Noun_ **

**_The dream versions of things in your life, which appear totally foreign but are still somehow yours—your anteschool, your antefriends, your antehome—all part of a parallel world whose gravitational pull raises your life's emotional stakes, increasing the chances you'll end up betting everything you have_ **

 

 

**Severus Snape Pov.**

The dark trio stalked quietly down the muggle city streets, Ember was dressed in a dark colored knee length skirt, knee-high socks, and high-top sneakers. She wore a button up shirt under a calf-length jacket, with a long belt whose ties were left open and swinging with her brisk walk. They passed houses and sidewalks hugging shops. They passed mainly muggles, and didn't say much as they walked. Ember's fingers held loosely onto Avens arm, the fabric of his fingerless gloves ran under the sleeves of his thick,

Ember's fingers held loosely onto Avens arm, the fabric of his fingerless gloves ran under the sleeves of his thick, floor length coat which he had buttoned fully up the side. He wore his collar flipped up, shadowing his face that wasn't already covered by his evenly split, long hanging hair and raised hood from the sweater he wore underneath. Black cargo pants hung comfortably loose from under the coat and over black leather boots. On his hip, flashing out from under the coat on occasion, a visible holster that contained long, magically enhanced knife that he wore attached to his belt and tied around his thigh. They both walked wordlessly behind Severus, who like always had his hood raised and wore a black high-collared dueling robe, and a plain black travel cloak to prevent the cold as magically water repellent black shoes avoided puddles from the rain from the day before.

Eventually, the masses died away and they were alone, walking on the suburban street that lightly cloudy midday afternoon. Ember clung tighter to Avens arm as they watched Severus slow his stride in passing a standard looking street sign.

"Spinners End," Aven whispered to the air as Severus shook the nerves and continued his way. 

The twins felt the energy change upon seeing the particular flat that matched the community of identically built homes, and Aven stopped their steps and allowed Severus to venture on alone as it became clear which stoop he was going to. Ember looked back at her brother confused to which Aven raised two fingers that signaled her to settle.

They watched him stop before the dusty stairs, taking a moment for himself before making the first of few heavy steps to the top of the stoop. When Aven witnessed his friend freeze at the front door, he placed his hand on his sister's back and gently pushed her forward.

She understood and slipped up the stairs quietly, landing behind the stone-faced man and placing a gentle hand on his tensed back.

"We can leave…" Ember whispered, landing a soft hand on his back.

A moment later the lock clicked and the door cracked open on its own.

Severus stepped in first, and the room they entered felt like stepping into a photo of the past. In waves the sun came through the shades, bringing the house to tint a photographic yellow with floating dust particles that were suspended in the light in an eerie way. The house lay covered in dust, untouched as it had been on that final summer day before that final semester started.

Ember could hear Severus's deep breathing as the man stood frozen with the time, his wand pointed at the ground and eyes scanning the living room in front of him. She stayed where she was as Aven came up behind her and closed the door as Severus ventured further into the room, running his fingers over dusty book covers and furniture.

He turned his head to look at the twins, an unreadable but unhappy look painting his words. It was as if he didn't understand, or was amazed that the house had been so protected after so many years alone. Severus honestly expected the worse. There were many artifacts, outwardly presented trinkets that had money potential. All his books, things.. so many papers that could make so many people powerful or rich. And here it was all was, untouched from everything including time.

A snapping noise came from an off corner and the three suddenly found their wands ripped from their security.

"I hope you have an excuse." A harsh woman's voice came from the stairway, and the group turned to see a very sour looking Narcissa Malfoy stepping roughly down the steps and into view. She held the three wands together in her free hand as her own wand pointed at Severus.

Narcissa's eyes widened for a moment when she looked into the black eyes of her thought to be a deceased friend, and the air froze for a moment before her face turned to angry in a horrifying quickness. She swiftly struck the group back three steps with a sharp spell before stepping fully into the room.

"You dare intrude upon this home wearing the face of my brother." The woman spat towards Severus.

"Narcissa…" Aven's voice etched darkly from the shadows of the entryway.

It seemed the first time the woman noticed the siblings presence, for the hand that held their wands reached up and touched her lips. Her eyes flashed back to Severus and she examined him in a new light.

"Severus….."

Her wand swayed.

Severus's stone composure seemed to break in this moment and he bowed his head the little he could to the woman who protected his childhood home and adult sanctuary. She swept tearfully over the carpet of the living room before landing a hand on his shoulder and running the back of her fingers of the other hand, gently over his cheek.

"It can't be." Narcissa whispered as she looked into his empty eyes.

"Why won't you talk to me!" She cried after the silent moment and finally allowed the tears to fall from her eyes as her fingers inched towards his neck.

"He can't." Ember informed harshly, stepping out with a sharp stomp and crossing her arms angrily. Aven pulled forward as well and leaned against the rooms threshold, his own arms crossed and eyes narrowing dangerously.

"What?" She whispered.

Severus's fingers slithered around Narcissa's wrist and moved her fingers the rest of the way to his throat, pushing her to pull down his collar. She gasped sharply as she pulled back and rose both hands to her mouth as the actuality of the gruesome scars were seen by her broken eyes.

"No.." Narcissa whispered and looked frantically at the twins.

"Umm, yes..? Sorry... That he's alive?" Ember said in a sarcastic growl as she stomped forward and ripped the two wands from her softened grasp.

"I didn't mean-" Narcissa replied softly.

"I mean, shite! The ONLY thing we didn't do was save his voice.."

"I am overly thankful -"

"Bullshite!"

"Ember!" Avens voice came over the anger and Ember bit her cheek viciously, forcibly slowing her breaths.

"You really can't talk?" Narcissa asked softly, looking at the source who looked away from her.

She threw her arms around Severus's shoulders and broke fully into tears again as she buried her face in the nook of his shoulder. He hugged her back as Ember huffed and turned on her toe and walked back to her brother, motioning for them to leave.

"Please don't go." Narcissa sniffed, breaking away from Severus and wiping her eyeliner off her cheeks with the back of her thumbs.

"This is clearly a you two thing." The fire bit. "Plus… I'd hate for Lucius or your sister, to find out you didn't kill us on sight." Ember hissed the final words with nothing but hatred and malice, throwing a glare at Aven who refused to move from in front of the door and shot his own glare back at her.

"Ember.. I'm sorry for what happened.. I honestly didn't know." Narcissa tried to explain.

"You know what, Narcissa." Ember turned to face the woman, finger out with a flick, "I believe you.. but when he-" Ember pointed right at Severus who darkened immediately and snarled. "came to you and told you we were forced off, you, did nothing to help. That's why I hate you, Narcissa..." Kayne stomped up to her. "You're too busy being rich and with up and ups to try to even sneak your ratty little friends some coin or medical support."

"Ember, I'm sorry," Narcissa said opening her palms in defeat.

"You lie!"

"I'm sorry." She repeated more emotionally.

"You're weak!"

"Ember!" Narcissa teared for a new reason now as Ember beat her down.

"You promised we were best friends and you turned your back on us! You left us!"

"Ember, stop." Narcissa tried again, stepping closer to the vengeful women with broken and submissiveness showing obvious in her voice and body.

"We lost everything while you decided your new found money was the most important thing!  _We_ have a D/A bounty because of  _your_  twisted husband,  _your_  bitch sister and  _YOU_  just by being alive! I mean Fu-."

_"ENOUGH!"_

Embers expression dropped at once. The room fell into silence. Her wildfire eyes slowly slipped over to Severus in disbelieving shock. The man who stayed silent to her for so long, had come so clear through her mind and had echoed like thunder through out the room.

Paling even more than his normal, Severus glanced towards Aven who normally acted as his support line, but watched him drop his arms and shake his head, admitting there was nothing he would do for him now.

"Really...?" Her voice was slow and controlled a growing anger, "it's been over a year…"

Narcissa turned away from Ember confused, looking between the backwards retreating girl and the very walled looking Severus.

Ember's expression turned to disgust as she looked up and down the mute man."It's been a year of silence.. and  _that_  is the first thing you project to me.."

"I don't…" Narcissa began when Aven shushed her. Meeting Narcissa's eyes Aven raised his finger to his lips signaling for silence before looking back at his sister.

But Ember said no more and shook her head in disgust, looking at the man she saved with more regret and feelings of betrayal than she could even try to verbally express. A stone mask slid over her face as her voice came detached and unemotional.

"Severus is alive, Narcissa, and is obviously in well health. I fail to see any reason for him to continue sanctuary with us any longer. Seeing how you now know about my brother and I, along with Severus's flat being completely intact, I would say there would be no better time than now for Severus to continue on as he had before us."

Her words were cold enough for Narcissa to feel, and the dismissal was obvious in her features. Ember turned on her toes to address the sullen looking man.

"It's been a pleasure, Severus. But seeing how Aven and I can not be seen in your obvious preferred company, I can only push your independence now. Seeing the state of your flat and how the Malfoy family can financially support youin ways we can not, I think we have finally come to the finalization of the healing process where you need to be in communication with us. Good luck with everything, I'll mail you the few belongings you came to us with along with your medications and our decided treatment plans.. Please understand, Severus, we can not put ourselves in danger again as I believe past events and broken promises speak for themselves. Good luck."

She blinked away what Severus almost saw as a tear, twist on her toe and swept to the door that her brother immediately slipped away from and opened for her before quickly following behind his distressed sister and closing the door behind them.

Severus and Narcissa stood in absolute silence in the picture of the past which lay as his living room. Taking a moment to glance at each other, they both felt the cold emptiness of regreat even in the very full, warm room.

* * *

**Please remember to R &R**


	6. Pushing Down My Feelings; Silencing Yours.

Pushing Down My Feelings; Silencing Yours.

**Lethobenthos**

**Noun.**

**The habit of forgetting how important someone is to you until you see them again in person.**

Narcissa had spent the rest of that afternoon and into the night with, Severus. They sat across from each other at the small kitchen table just as they had sat in their youths. She was vocally answering questions and conversing to the words he would jot down and slide over to her. She was calm and understood why he closed off to her and refused the communication he had used only that once with Amber. She understood went wrong, and understood why he wasn't asking about the state of things over the last few years, beyond that of the basic questions of her husband and son.

Narcissa also understood what the right thing that needed to be done was.

She hugged him goodbye that night in the security of his flat. She held him tightly and kissed him on the cheek, telling him she loved him and promising his flats continued safety as well as the secrecy of what she knew. Knowing he was alive would have to be good enough for her, and she gave him a small, teary-eyed wave as he slowly closed the door of the flat behind him knowing she would see him again. 

Whether he liked it or not, he had done a major wrong.  
  
He owed Aven and especially Ember for all of what they had done for him and for every breath he now took. He asked her to save him, and they did. They worked tirelessly for years and put in so much time to secure his soul that he knew what he had done wasn't right, the moment he had spoken out. So, Severus realized with a small chill that embeds into his neck as he entered the main area of The Burrows property, that he couldn't choose the Malfoys, or anyone, over the twins with a right and loyal heart.

Quietly, his steps stop at the crop line at the edge of the wheat circle that wrapped, The Burrow. It had been rebuilt with heavy funding and high charity that was done out of honour and great respect. He hadn't seen it since its damaged end and he stood for a moment, watching its always inviting lights twinkle from its many windows. The tall building stood strong, posted in the moonlit cascaded nightland. Its body glows and its form is towering, but still, it couldn't look menicing even if it tried. There was too much good here.

Taking a deep breath in an attempt to calm himself from a rising anxiety, he steps from the line and makes his way into the slightly overgrown but very green yard. He feels like he doesn't belong here, and understands why he feels that way. With a flick of his fingers that barely rises from his hip, a quill, and parchment rise from his shoulder bag, lifting in the air, it's quill writing the message that Severus silently orders. He came around to the front of the house, stopping just outside the view of the active bay window that showed into the kitchen. Standing stalk, he listens and hears the mass amounts of chatter inside. Sending the parchment under the window, Severus lands the completed message on the stone walkway in front of the door before using his wand to bring a loud crack against the wood.

The occupants from inside The Burrow silenced at once and the familiar voice of Molly came as a low whisper as she asked around if anyone knew who it was. He smirked a smirk that melted away rather quickly and it took a moment, but eventually, the sound of the door opening came and Severus raised his form, keeping to the blind spot and out of the view of the open, kitchen window. A very battle ready Arthur Weasley stepped into Severus sight and his foot landed on the parchment. As if bitten by a snake, Arthurs' leg pulled away and the note was quickly picked up and read. Severus watched as Arthur's head rose and first turn to one side and then the next, jumping when meeting Severus's empty eyes and shadow like form.

His face quickly reddened past the color of his hair.

"Arthur?" Molly asked with a hint of concern, and the father straightened up and put his wand away.

"Just... One moment of privacy, please." He closed the house door and the noise of hustle came from inside as Arthur passed in front of the bright kitchen window as he closed the space that Severus backed away from.

Once in the dark, Arthurs wand was out again and pointed at the shadowed covered throat. And, Severus allowed this action, placing both hands open and wide at elbow height.

"You lie." Arthur started looking him up and down. "Who are you? And why would you bother us in this body?" 

He felt like he couldn't push the blankness from his eyes as he tried to show any amount of humanity towards the man who had every right to have his wand out. He didn't know if he did a good job, but the only thing that seemed to please the man was when he lowered hands to his sides, allowing them to hang limply in a defeated pose while maintaining the stiffness he was best known for. Blankly, he flicked his finger which pulled the paper from Arthur as well as summon a quill to scribble a note that landed floating in the air between them. Mr. Weasley lowered his wand and took the paper out of the air with his other hand, choking up immediately upon reading the proving reference only the real Severus would know to write as identification.

In a moment, Arthur's arms pulled the tense, uncomfortable man into a tight embrace, patting his back and letting out a choked sigh..

"Severus.."

He, always stiff and emotionally awkward, interrupted the man by raising the quill and paper which Arthur immediately understood and broke away before taking a moment to pull himself together.

"Your neck." Arthur comments after reading, looking up and examining the deep, white scars that slashed in random lines over the mans jaw.   
  
He knows the look of stalling eyes on the deepest of his scars that glow in the in the moonlight and always grabs the most attention.

"Arthur.." Both men looked back towards the door to see a pale Molly, who was standing in the doorway with her wand out and pointed at the new comer.

"Who…"

"Molly, stop."

"Who is that Arthur!?" the women said in franticness and as Severus feared, the crowd from inside stepped into the yard and watched either concerned or angry or some mixture of both.

Severus didn't know who had lived and who died, and as he stood among the surviving Order, he studied them as they studied him. Tonks had made it through and it seemed Remus had as well, but now the two stood apart and Remus leaned heavy on a walking staff and on one leg. Tonks looked shocked while Remus was glaring at him with wolfish eyes narrowed. Severus had heard they lost the child in the war, but he wouldn't comment on anything else. Next, he continued to scan around the group and the green eyes of Lily flashed from the crowd.

Next, Kingsley was there, as well as Ginny Weasley and Ronald, Percy and the twins. He continued to scan around the group and at one point the green eyes of Lily flashed from the crowd.

For the first time, he felt nothing upon seeing them and continued on.

Molly stepped up cautiously and Arthur handed his wife the note while Severus continued to scan the group. Fred and George stood together, Fred looking a tad worse for wear with Percy but Charlie seemed to be missing, which was odd seeing how Flure was still present among the group.

"Severus.." He ignored the voice and met eyes with the hard faced Kingsley who looked rather normal and unharmed.

Finally, the thin mouthed Hermione Granger who stood with in the furthest spot in the group. Refusing to hold attention with the girl who already knew too much, he had no other choice than to turn his attention back to Arthur and Molly. Molly, who had a tear dripping down her face and was holding a hand over her mouth looked at him with disbelieving eyes. He nodded his head the best he could and she pulled away from her husband and approached him, raising her hand to his cheek before breaking down in tears on his shoulder as she held his still very still body in an overly tight embrace for what was for him, a very long minute.

The group atmosphere changed immediately as wands as well as jaws slacked. The golden trio exchanged looks but did not move, while Tonks slid from behind Harry and stepped up to the group of adults. Quickly becoming overwhelmed, Severus pushed himself a step back and pushed a forceful energy outwards, bringing the group to silence as a memory of old respect came back for the, Potions Master.

"Okay." Molly sniffed. "Fred, George, go take everyone inside please, Harry that means you too. Go on. Kingsly, Remus.. would you mind accompanying them?" Molly's voice was calm and held the control from the tears of happiness that she wanted to cry. He stood, watching as her children acted accordingly and the twins shuffled the group off just as they had when they were children.

"Severus," Arthur said quietly, taking a small step back to give the man space as Molly continued to hang onto his arm as if he were going to disappear or float away,"How..?"

Severus swished the fingers of his free hand and the parchment and quill rose by his shoulder and started scribbling, his eyes listlessly watching the letters the ink left behind before allowing the parchment to slip into the Weasleys anxiously awaiting hands.

"Do you remember the, Twilight Twins?" Molly read aloud his note and both husband and wife looked at each other before Arthur nodded.

"Yes, actually.. Ember.. and …." Arthur tried to remember.

"Aven!" Molly finished, turning back to Severus, "I thought they were dead?"

Severus gave a harsh glare which silenced Molly and brought her to release his arm.

"Anyway, come, come. We must speak to the others! So much has changed now that-"

The quill was back, writing swiftly as Severus's eyes watched the paper fill, and his long arms slipped around back, his form rising.

"I'm not staying." Molly started sadly.

"I have wronged someone of whom I owe my life too." Arthur read, "I can not stay and chatter while such a wrong ticks by with the minutes... Do not allow this information past us... Tell Potter and his group a lie and never speak of seeing me again. I will return.. But for now the knowledge of my life will have to be sufficient." Arthur finished and lowered it away.

"But you just got here...and... after three years..." Molly teared up stepping into her husband's arms as Severus stepped back. The emotion rising in the air was enough for him, to thick for him to breath. He bowed at the waist at the Weasley mother and father, apologizing for his sudden departure through his cold exterior.

"Minerva! Before you leave for good again… You need to see, Minerva." Molly said softly, more praying with her eyes than her voice let on to believe. Something in Severus's changed just then and Molly was quick to pick up on the tenseness.

"She's not mad at you… She knows what you had to do..… Your portrait as headmaster hangs on Headmasters wall."

Here Severus's changed stature once again, and his stepping closer made Molly explain further.

"Yes! Everyone knows Albus asked you… You were buried with Wizarding honors, Severus. You can come back..."

He either looked insulted or astounded, Molly nor Arthur could fully tell, but he backed away with a tentative step and nodded slowly. He looked at them once over one more time before popping from the spot and dropping the space into an empty, suddenly cold night.


	7. Forgetting the Wilted Thorn Rose

**Forgetting the Wilted Thorn Rose**

**_Alazia_ _Noun_**

**_The fear that you're no long able to change._ **

Severus would go to delay the visit with his old teacher. Time continued to pass and at that point, he had been nearing a full days rotation away from Ember and Aven. With the twins, chaos only brewed and the more time Severus spent away, was more time the encounter poisoned his chance of forgiveness. As time ticked by, so did the soon to be lightening sky that would warn of the impending time limit. He stood with his toes at the edge of the forest that guarded and shielded the quaint farm from the outside world. He took a moment to pull his wand from his sleeve and once secured, he passed the property line that although allowed him through, radiated a tension across the property.

Slipping between trees and avoiding the exposing light of the high held moon with slick footed skill, his eyes caught every obstacle and his feet mastered every barrier and eventually, Severus broke through the thick forest and stepped into the flower-dotted field with the stone farmhouse that sat off to the far side. He noticed smoke rising from the chimney and a single light flickering in one of the downstairs windows. Picking up his pace for only a quick few steps, Severus quickly froze as a chill touched the back of his neck and a sharp spark ignited against the skin. 

"What are you doing here..?"

It was Aven's voice that came from behind, it's tone a low rumble that hummed with an energy that would nerve that of even Lucius. As the threatening tingle ran through his veins, the sparking from the wand tip that pressed against the back of his neck began to ache and burn his muscles within his already damaged throat. Aven waited for an answer and let out a low growl as seconds past and not a sound came from, Severus.

"Oh, so now you won't talk to me, either?" He mocked.

Severus closed his eyes and he let a breath came from his nostrils that brought his shoulders slumping and his fists balling then released. A sharp flick of his finger and the quill and paper rose from inside his shoulder bag and set itself properly between them.

"Note passing?" Aven scuffed darkly with a jab, "Come now Severus, are we really back at Hogwarts?" he mocked him viciously and the energy picked up bringing the mans skin to itch and arm hair to stand on edge.

_Aven.._

The magic pulled back slowly as Severus was heard within the mind and in the edges of the air, but the wand continued to hold contact against his skin so he continued.

 _I wronged you and Ember.. I see that now and I'm here to... I'm here to apologize."_  Aven scuffed at the man's awkward sounding start. _There are things people do that can not be so easily forgotten, and after everything, you have given me back…._

The wand was completely withdrawn now, and Severus stood on the spot for a long moment before pushing himself to turn to look behind him. The space was empty and cold as Aven had long since vanished from the spot. He looked around once more before continuing to the farmhouse. He quietly stepped up the few wooden steps, and just as quietly, pulled open the porch door and slipped inside without a sound. No one was in the kitchen, though, the candelabra over the table illuminated the small space as an outlined, full shadow. As he turned from the kitchen to start up the stairs and physically jumped and pulled his wand when the towering form of Aven flashed for only a moment on the top the stairs like a strike of lightning. As he ascended, he grits his teeth but that did nothing as from his first step onto the top stair he flinched again, his heart skipping as from his peripherals, the man flashed again at the end of the darkened hall but was gone when he looked. 

What the man was doing was playing with the trauma he hadn't yet recovered from, and he didn't like the game that this twin played at all but there was nothing he could do or say on the matter so he didn't say anything about it all.  Stopping before the door which had the candlelight flickering from under it's crack, Severus paused for a moment with his handheld as a fist, his knuckles cracking under his thumb in a nervous habit he had at one point picked up without noticing. He eventually knocked and waited a moment before the bedroom door quietly opened on its own. Aven flashed again in a standing position at the side of her bed. It was only a moment, only a blink or a flash, but he saw him there. Standing by her sitting form with his arms held around his back and a sick energy striking from the twin for the moment he was visible. He approached to see her alone and sensed the room finding nothing at all beside himself and the fire-eyed woman who pulled her legs up and watched him angrily from her bed.

"Well, since you're here... What form of communication will be conversing with this time...Should I get my quill, you antisoc-"

 _I know clearly of my sins and I see my disloyalty…."_  He interrupted her, but she remained quiet and listening. " _I wronged you when you are not allowed to be wrong by me._

She looked at him as if she was waiting for more and he sighed irritably before bringing the connection back with her,

_I'm sorry._

The look continued and an impatient anger twitched on his features, showing a limit being reached as again, she silently asked for more of him. But he should have known better and had. Ember was not one to let another off the hook so easy, and she used weaknesses to her advantage in times like this. For him, it had always been emotional actions and words, and she had always a tendency to push him past his discipline.

_I want to come home, and I'm sorry for finding myself at the actions of such foolishness. It wasn't right. Will you allow me back?"_

The smile broke her face to his admitting heart and she pushed up on her knees and wrapped her arms around the stiffening form of the Potions Master who had dealt with more hugs in the past 24 hours than he had for the entirety of his adult life.

He moved away the moment she allowed it and looked down to watch her as she gave a tired smile as a nod to her head.

"It's time for bed." She nearly yawned. "We can talk more when you want... I have the help doing the chores so we can all sleep in. I'll see you tomorrow."

He gestured at the waist and turned to leave the bedroom, stopping when the whisper of his name came from the bed.

"Severus..... I um.. Look, I don't want you here out of debt.." Ember started quietly. "You just got a new life and I can't have it controlled by m... I'm sorry for what I said.. and if it's what I said, that is the reason you're here now... Then I messed up... Maybe. Maybe now that the war is over.. Lucius can we swayed and..."

Severus's hand rose and she stopped her words and he slowly turned to face her.

_"What's right is right, and as of now, that's all that's important. Narcissa knows I am alive as well, as do the Weasleys. Though they know less, they know enough. In coming time I will send off correspondence and now that they know, they will accept my letters..Until then, if you will have me, I wish to remain here."_

Severus gestured a silent departing and slipped from the bedroom, watching the door handle as it slowly clicked as the door slipped into the latch. Turning up, he flinched again upon seeing the very real, physical form of Aven who stood illuminated in the moonlight of the open hallway window. He would stand in silence, shrouded in shadow and moonlight, glaring coldly at him until he had slipped into his designated bedroom at the end of the hall and closed the door. 


	8. Finding Fables

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy!

Finding Fables

**Hiraeth (Welsh).**

**Refers to homesickness tinged with grief for a place you can never return to.**

 

Hermione looked around carefully before slipping into the restricted Ministry room to begin her search among the Ministry Student/Magic database. Aven and Ember Fields,she told herself the names as she traveled the dark hall. That night, after Snape left she had done her best not to let anyone know that she had already met the supposed dead, but Ginny had called her out later that night when they were alone. Nothing much was said about it, Hermione figured nothing much could be said. After all, what could they say besides they were surprised?  How else did she feel? She didn't honestly know she felt about all of it.  Aven and Ember Fields. She ran the names again through her mind as she slipped through the large wooden door at the end of the hall. What did she really know about the man anyway? She asked herself this as she counted the letter isles. Besides the fact he was an incredible, unemotional, abusive, asshole.  

_D..E….F..  
_

Nothing, she resolved to herself and turned into the aisle of F. She continued to think as she travels through last name letters.

Well, she knew his home life was bad. She knew he was bullied. ..Like she had been out of the eye of Harry and Ron. Hermione slowed her steps. 

_F...I._

Hermione opened the drawer and slipped through the many files finding the family rather quickly. She pulled out four folders. Ember. Aven, and their parents, Father Icarus and mother, Dorma.  The front of each flap of all four folders were all marked with a bright red X and deceased stamped across the header page of all four. Icarus and Dorma had been Ministry agents in the dark arts wing of the Ministry. She flipped through pages.  _Department of Yet Found Magic,_ she read and wrinkled her nose, not finding the department name familiar. She read the short profiles, finding the family heritage that of pureblood and upper-middle-class living. Their death reports were the same and with each other's names present in the others file. Closing the two folders, she put the parents back into the cabinet and flipped open Amber and Aven. Twins, and both with deceased stamps across their profile. Still, she read on as the basic information was scribed neatly in the correct boxes. Right away she noticed that Aven had a large black mark next to his name which read, _"Dominate T"_. She read through both files and saw Aven had been 6'3 and Ember 5'5. Both with very dark brown, nearly black hair and Aven with violet eyes and Ember, with Amber eyes. 

Amber..

She remembers the fire that was built into those eyes of that amber-eyed woman she had met in the alley. It had been Ember, she concluded and looked back at her page and pulled her folder over that of her brothers. Quick school reports called her an "exuberant, exploring soul." High marks, the twins O.W.Ls were as much as twins as they were. All O's and E's on the same classes, she was impressed. Looking at the OWL's year she quickly did the math and realized they had been in the same school year as Professor Snape and were only two years younger. It became more clear of how they knew each other now.

But that's where it ended. It seemed after their final year, the entire family succumb to the powers of the Dark Lord and his followers in a single night, and were pronounced dead at the obliterated home in an attack by deatheaters. Pureblood against pureblood? She didn't really understand and thought this over to herself as she read the final notes. Oddly enough, while the parents were recovered, the bodies of the twins were never found.

"Hello, Ms. Granger."

Jumping and dropping the folder, Hermione turned to see the shadow cast form of Lucius Malfoy standing at the entrance of row she was in.

"Mister Malfoy." She stumbled slightly but pulled herself straight, in the end, setting her face into that of her Ministry self.  

While the war was over and predigests now only lingered in the back of the mind, Lucius wore a tracker now, around his ankle or his wrist she didn't know, but it was known about in the Ministry as an agreed upon order to keep him out of Azkaban. She wasn't in danger, not from his wand anyway.

"What are you doing here?" He asked smoothly, genuine in his curiosity.

"What are _you_ doing here?" She asked back as she looked at a similar looking folder that he held between his gloved fingers.

Lucius narrowed his eyes and turned his lip up at her before stepping into the row and closing the space between them slowly.

"Ms. Granger. If you don't mind my prying, whose folder is that?"

"Whose folder is that?" Hermione replied, going to pick up the folder but finding Lucius's magic was quicker than hers. She watched in silent distress as the file slid quickly across the floor and rose into Lucius' hand. He gave her a smirk as he flipped open the folders, a smirk that quickly vanished upon reading the names in which were printed. He looked up at her with grey eyes flashing and a dangerous aura radiating off him in a way that rose the hair on her arms.

"Now, why would you be looking for names like these?"

"Research." She shrugged. 

"On what?"

She knew this game. The game where he made her think she owed him answers. "I apologize," she smiled shaking her head," but I have a meeting to get to." She waved her hand slightly. "If you would put that back for me that would be kind of you, if not, please return that to me so that I can go about my day."

Lucius's mouth broke into a fanged smile as stepped up to her and flipped the folder out for her to take.

"We never saw each other." His voice was a suggestion that held the slightest lining to a threat in the face of a denial.

"Agreed." Hermione said with a nod and a smile of her own as she slipped the folder from his lightly held grasp, comfortable with the knowledge that as long as she kept quiet, so would he.

.........                   ..............                 ..................                 ...................                 ...................                   ....................                   ................          ..........

The morning to pass was promised to a late waking, and eventually, Ember rose as high noon struck. She had always been a lazy one, loving to sleep in and work about in the late evenings. Yes, the Hogwarts years had proved very rough indeed for young Ember, and now in her older years she promised herself late mornings three times a week unassigned, and once again her laziness pulled through as the best, most stress-free solution. The help she had referred to, was a medium sized grouping of house elves that had once worked for pay as well as protection. They stayed with the twins after their home burnt down, and the many who chose to continue their service had been serving the Fields family for a very long, long time. Their father would always go on about "happy help, is the best help," and stressed the importance of emotion vs. fear tactics. The world outside the Fields family was commonly dark for the house elf kind, and the Fields offered food, shelter, pay and freedom along with a high degree of respect. "Always make happy those who handle your food and drink," was another bright slogan of the late father that perished under the wand of Deatheaters years ago. The house elves took refuge in a barn-styled building nearby the house that the mix creature family built together upon arrival, and although they did not get paid anymore, they were treated well and they enjoyed their lives.

Taking a moment to listen to the happily clucking chickens outside the slightly cracked window, Ember rolled herself out of bed and shuffled to the attached private bathroom that Aven pushed on her from the start. Pulling together a lazy approach to appropriate farm dress, she soon stepped from the bedroom and glanced down the hallway as she heard the shower running and continued her way to the kitchen for some home squeezed orange juice. Stepping from the final stair, Ember turned the corner and stopped by the table by the door which normally occupied mail, keys, bridals, leads and various other boots and quick farmhand equipment. Her eyes met the feeling of displacement that she felt and she reached down and pulled a small square envelope from the pile of mail.

_Minerva McGonagall,_

_Headmistress of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry._

She read no more and dropped the envelope as if it burned her, and took a quick step back. As if on a cue that she had already been expecting, Aven came through the swinging kitchen door and into the entryway with violet eyes swarming from the sense of distress coming off his younger twin.

"What?" He asked evaluating the scene.

She didn't say anything but only pointed on the envelope on that lay on the braided carpet on the floor. He would give her an odd look before summoning the envelope up to his hand with a flick of his wrist, paling just as quickly when he read the sender's title.

'Aven… How does she know where we live..?"

His teeth grit anger and his fingers crumpled the paper, "Severus…"

"Aven.."

"No, Ember!" he snapped. "Look at us! We haven't spoken to anyone in town in over two years.. we only buy feed and supplies from the outside world and we pick that up outside this forest! He's the only one who's communicated! He's the only one that's had the ability to compromise us!"

_I'm guessing I'm the, 'he'?_

They turned to see the cross-armed Severus, standing on the stairs and leaning on the banister.

"Tell us about this!" Aven flew the note at Severus, who caught it in mid-air and made a similar expression as the two, before slowly turning the note around and looking at the stamped seal.

"Well, open it.." Aven pushed.

_I don't want it._

_S_ everus extended the note back down to the surprised looking twin. _No one knows where you are, I promise. Write her back. Tell her all is right and the rumors are true, but I have left and have asked not to be followed or bothered. You don't know anything about my whereabouts, but know I will be in contact soon enough. Wipe the birds' memory and set it free to where it came from._

Aven reached up and slipped the letter from Severus's hand and nodded solemnly.

"I agree," Ember sighed. "She'll be at doorstep if we don't."

"I also agree" Aven voiced before giving his sister a dark nod and turning and leaving the room leaving Ember and Severus alone.

 _I want you to come with me._ Severus's thoughts drifted through Embers mind after a quiet moment between them, bringing her to turn around to look up at him.

"Excuse me?"

She had been in a mental debate with her brother when Severus sent his message, but what she imagined he said, couldn't have been far off.

_Come with me to see, Minerva._

Shocked she asked him, "Are you sure?"

The look he gave made an answer that his silent mind did not announce, and she gave a nod.

"What about, Aven?" She asked him as she watched him finishing the ascent up the staircase, no doubt back to his room.

_"What about, Aven."_

There was a tension between the two men that started right after the encounter with Narcissa and was held heavily by Aven still. The twins together openly held predigest against the Malfoy family and for very good reason and a reason that was understood through the entire group. While Ember was one to move on from events but never forget, Aven held transgressions more close to bone and heart, and often wore his opinions outright.

"You knows he's coming either way. Do you want to know he's there, or would you rather pretend he's at home?"

Severus looked at her for a moment as she waited for his answer before looking to the door Aven had left through.

_I'd rather pretend he's not there._

"As you wish. I'm rather excited." She smiled a wide smile. our "It's been awhile since I've seen her."


	9. To Fly Without Chains

**To Fly Without Chains**

**Atolondrar (Spanish).**

**To be so overwhelmed by something that it causes you to become scatter-brained and careless. For example, if you were multi-tasking so heavily at work that you forgot to send an important e-mail.**

Ember traveled the city sidewalk with her arm laced with Severus, who held his arm respectfully as well as tightly with his fist resting against his solar plexus. He walked on the inside with his hood drawn and a scarf around his neck, his usual ensemble with a fit, professional wear without the flowing capes. From his hood, strands of black hair fall over his face and eyes, both which remained mute of anything more than a sour expression. With his attention cast straightforward, he listening to Ember go on in lighthearted chatter as his energy pulsed, able to move aside the bodies of the muggles that scurried by them completely unconscious to them.  He almost didn't recognize Aven when he saw the flash in the crowd across the street. It was only for a second, but one time was all Severus needed to know the near demonic brother had eyes that would follow their every move from silence and near-flawless camouflage.

Watching him more than Ember, of course. 

Aven was different from anyone Severus had ever met in his entire life and the man fascinated the psychosis out of him. In Hogwarts and after, he had tested theories silently and found that the twins could feel each other's pain, feel each other's emotions and know each other's thoughts and exact placement from all the way across the castle and even grounds. Ember had told him that when they were in the womb their mum continued with her dark magic that was practiced more in Ministry level research and interest by both the parents, rather than soul-shattering entertainment. As if the residue of evil was not enough, while in the womb, Aven had accidentally wrapped his umbilical cord about his sister's neck, in an incident that made hazardous when Ember was born with it tightening around her throat. Something had happened that forced the woman into early labor, perhaps she knew she otherwise healthy daughter was suffocating. Either way, the twins were produced prematurely and not only was Ember the smallest of the two, she had also arrived with no air. Magic and nature are the two of the most powerful and beautiful creations in existence, and as Ember passed for the short time she did, there was said a light passed between the twins before Medi Witches broke the leaching of magic and life was revived to the infant girl.

Aven Fields would travel the world for the entirety of his existence with a portion of sister's soul running through his veins. It was built into every muscle and breath he took, and with it came a sense of commitment from him, a sort of blood bound drive to keep his sister safe. They were on their way to Kings Cross, and Severus being 'dead' and refusing to arrive with an announcement, assumed he had lost his teachers accesses to the school and knew for the group the visit, it would be forced by train.

School had yet to restart from break, but Minerva being a teacher was prioritized to return a few days before the students. Severus had always gone early as well, more out of boredom and to escape the dreariness of Spinners End than in the interest of the teachers who would be joining him. Stepping onto the train, Severus and Ember took a compartment alone and as Severus placed himself comfortably on the cushy, deep red seats, Ember was at his side again. She sat, leaning against the opposite wall her knees curled up to her chest, her attention slipping onto a drawing pad and quill that she pulled from her pack. Eventually, her feet would stretch out more and more and rest against his leg. They would sit in a silence unrecognizable as so many years ago, a brightness lit train compartment that had since vanished. They sat alone in themselves for the duration of the travel, surrounded by the noise of graveyard laughter and joy that echoed in cold nostalgia.

Time had passed and Ember had since fallen asleep but Severus had not. He had kept stiff and with his eyes out the window. Aven had stayed away to the point where Severus began to wonder if he had gotten on the train at all. He hadn't seen him get on the train but figured that was the point. It's what he requested anyway. Severus would wake Ember to eat when the trolley came by, and he would wake her again when they arrived at the school, but for now he left her to her regained sleep, currently with a small gathering of crumbs surrounding her. He peered again through breaks of hair and through sharp black eyes at the darkening landscape that slid past.

It soon came the time where he was waking her up as the warning bell rang out in the corridor of the train. She almost went for her robes as she had as a child but stopped and suddenly looked very glum. He looked away, back out the window, unable to help her sadness. Stepping onto the station, Severus and Ember quickly turned their attention to the sound of the roaring half-giant as the unfortunate Aven fell under the excited hug of Hagrid who was charged with meeting every train delivery. Understanding this as a diversion, Ember turned to see Severus already ahead of her, slipping up the darkened side of the path that the teachers only knew of that ran as a shortcut to the front of the school.

"Wait," Ember whispered grabbing Severus's wrist and halting them behind a large column just outside the Transfiguration Court Yard. "We need to wait for Aven."

He shot her an angry look before glancing around.

"Listen to me," She tugged his arm again as he tried to go. "We are going to need him again.. He'll meet us here… I promise."

Irritably, Severus agreed by leaning his back against the stone, and he waited with a glare until she would give the next, unexplainable order. The time that past was silent, and the sudden form of Aven coming from behind the opposite end of the column with no alert what's-so-ever, brought Ember to jump and for Severus to step away sharply and start for his wand. The violet-eyed man looked between the two and smirked at both of them.

"Stay here." he said.

He was gone but quickly resurfaced as his voice rang across the dark, silent yard.

"Minerva!" his voice was not far from off his normal darkness but the excitement was there as his teacher came around the corner followed closely by a beaming Hagrid.

"Oh, Aven! I heard rumors all this time but I didn't...." Minerva spoke warmly and happily as she quickly traveled up to one of her most mysterious alumni and embraced the stiff man tightly. Though he was a Slytherin she remembered him well. She remembered _them._ Aven in particular though had caused her much strain just in the fact they refused to be separated by already set schedules. Regardless, hearing of the annihilation of the entire family was painful to hear as she had met both the parents and remembered them as quite impressive people. 

"Where… where's Ember?" Her thoughts interrupted the greeting.

"Ember, come here," Aven called over his shoulder.

Ember stepped away from the column and into view of the group, but she did not come out alone. Severus would come with her, and as he stepped into the moonlight, Minerva's hand flew to her mouth and her eyes near instantly welled with tears. 

"I knew it.." She almost cried into her hand, and if it weren't for the many years of straight-faced training, she would have.

Three. That made three she thought to be dead and gone, alive and before her now.

Aven stepped out of the way and Ember released Severus who stood uncomfortably on his own, his straightened pose readying for the oncoming Headmistress who would admit she missed him overall.

"Take your hood off," She whispered in shock and sharpness as she slowed to a stand in front of him. 

He did.. and the woman collapsed in his arms and cried years of pent up anger, sadness, betrayal, and mourning for the man she would never forgive herself for hating, and for the friend she had held most dear.

She knew it was him.

She knew it was him before he showed himself, and a part of her knew he was alive the entire time.

The second Minerva saw Aven she knew.

She had suspicions the entire time of Severus's death just as she had with the Fields twins. But she had never voiced this thought to others in fear of sounding overly affected by the death. Now she held him in her arms and as she cried out three years of pain and all the years before his death in which he was forced to suffer. She apologized for not knowing. She apologized for how she treated him that final year. The emotion was short lived though, for when he did not speak to her she pulled herself together the small amount she allowed, and pulled away from the man altogether.

"Severus…"

"Minerva -"

"Ember! Come here!" Minerva said enthusiastically, hugging the girl before returning to the silent Potions Master.

"He can't talk," Ember said smiling as she glanced up at him. "You kinda have to open up to hear him."

"I heard what happened, and I can't overly say I'm surprised."

"Who told you?" Aven pushed sharply.

"Oh. Mrs. Weasley... Why?"

The Slytherins shared a moment, but in the end, knew they were foolish for thinking anything different would happen.

"Hagrid?" Minerva turned around to see the half-giant, who had stood quietly glaring at Severus.

"Hagrid, was is it?" Minerva asked looking between the two.

"Me hut.. and me hu'nd.."

Severus cast his eyes downward in defeat and he nodded his head once.

_"I never intend for things to transpire the way they did, and I feel rather disgusted with how that night took place. It's good to see Fang has recovered."_

Hagrid nodded his head in either confusion or surprise.. maybe both, but his head nodded as he put his hand out for Severus to shake.

"Severus.." Minerva said quietly as she began turning away after the meaningful handshake,"Come come, we must discuss..."

"Minerva, no.."

The woman turned back around slowly, clearly hurt as Embers voice stopped the women in her joy.

"I knew this as well." She sighed as she faced Severus with a frown, "Will you ever come back to us? Will I ever see you again?"

_"Perhaps. But for now, school is starting and as always, we both have things to accomplish."_

Minerva made way for a temporary goodbye and was embraced back by her taller alumni and colleague briefly, before stepping back and wiping tears from her eyes.

 _"You women and your particulars for sharing emotions physically."_ He sent for her before clearing his throat and stepping away with a dark smirk.

"Severus. We have always friends…" She said the words she always had wished she could have said. "I just want you to know that. From the second you came to school you were one of my many cubs, and from your first day working here, you were my friend. And as my final words, Severus, I hope one day we will see each other again."

_"As do I."_

Minerva hugged her dearest soldier once more, proud of the man who had returned from the Veil. For Severus, he embraced his eldest teacher and close friend. One he had refused to duel against, even after the years of fighting and anger. She willingly went through his abuse and behaviors and learned to just to fight back as hard. He was difficult and short-tempered, but she learned to sway his anger and give back his insults.

He had attacked her, he had killed Albus and forced control over the school with absolutely no warning or empathy. But she understood why now, and a sort of redemption of a heart-wrenching lie healed its self, and in turn, their friendship became new. They broke apart and Severus turned to face Hagrid, who gave the man an easy parting head nod before stepping backwards to Embers side.

"And eh… Things b' clear with us, Sev'rus. Your always welcom' to my ome." Hagrid stumbled awkwardly.

_"Thank you, Hagrid."_

Severus turned back to Ember and Aven. Ember smiled and turned to the side readying to leave, and as he took the first steps away from the Headmistress and the school. Minvera watched with sadness but smiled at her own happy thoughts as she knew what sort of company, her young cub now resided with.


	10. Continuous Ticking

**Continuous Ticking**

_Zenosyne:_

_The Sense That Time Keeps Going Faster_

Hermione Granger loved Ronald Weasley.

But as hard as Hermione tried, as many times as she went over why she should, Hermione was not  _in_ love with Ronald Weasley and she had a few personal reasons behind that.

Reasons that she hadn't told a single person.

One, Ronald did not, and she believed he would not ever become accustomed to the clean, strict, bureaucratic life she loved.

At parties, his jokes were crude, his stance was limp, his voice loud, and his drinking, continuous, though thankfully never an embarrassment, it was too much of an entertainment for the company she would bring them around as a couple. It wasn't so much that he got drunk annoying, he held himself quite well once he began to slur just the slightest, but there was something that Hermione saw as coming from his upbringing where basic mannerisms were more rugged than what the Ministry type appreciated. It wasn't a bad thing of course, but it was a bit embarrassing when she stood in front of those of the successes she wished to follow. 

Reason two.

Ron owned and worked in a small work and repair shop on Second Street which was wonderful placement right behind Diagon Alley. Business was amazing and pulled in a quite a fair financial gain. But Ron's work friends were likewise of the type of rough and labor, public working people who enjoyed bars and stories which Ron was always full of and ready to give. She didn't much care for his work friends, and they didn't really seem to like her.

Reason three.

Ronalds' significantly grown ego. One that she had recently noticed began mocking that of Gilderoy Lockheart. Once the quiet boy, Ron was always an under than middle child. The youngest below him was the only lady of all the children, and those above him were the aggressive and rowdy twins who often took all the remaining attention the household could handle. Percy was successful and up in coming, and Charlie was a pride of the family for he was a master of the most powerful of creatures, dragons. If everything, growing up, Ronald always seemed to come up just shy of mediocre and for that he had been a quiet boy that she enjoyed. Harry, and their adventures changed that forever and it seemed Ron would be damned if anyone forgot all he had done, all he had seen and all he had been a part of.  

What they had all been apart of... 

Hermione sighs, and twists in the chair that sits behind her ministry desk compleatly lost in thought.

..

For whatever reason, she wouldn't be able to say, Hermione found herself away from her job and in the files of the Ministry later that day. The office had become rather small and she felt the desire to breathe some fresh air. But that's not what she did. Instead, she was in the file section of the Ministry, far below the earth top. 

She was looking for a file again. A file of a man she dreamed of last night. A man that for the life of her, she couldn't stop thinking about since his unexcepted appearance at the Burrow on the anniversary of Freds release from the hospital. 

......Snaeimar...

She froze and went through the last files again.

Snalic...

Snaque...

There was no  _Snape **...**_ And then, she remembered something she had forgotten and thought of Lucius Malfoy. A small, knowing smile crept over her lips as her mind made up her next trip.

* * *

**Flashback**

_"Don't worry about your sight. Right now your pupils are too dilated to handle anything besides darkness. Here, lift your head."_

_She had helped him raise his neck and she tied a bandanna over his eyes which finally gave him the relief he sought. He had been awake only a moment before he experienced a pain that came from under the heavy medications._ _The room was darkened completely and only allowed sparse candlelight which burned through his eyelids and was quick to give him a harsh headache, but slowly over time, like the twins had reminded him plenty, his eyes would adjust and after about two months of darkness, he saw the sunset for the first time since the night of his death._

_From the explosion of beautiful purples, oranges and reds against black passing clouds of that beautiful sunset, he went on to experienced the world in a new light and noticed particulars in the things around him he once called not worthy of his time. The puffy fur of the farm dog felt softer than the coarse fur of the horse, the birds held their own distinctive songs and the autumn leaves looked more styled and intricate as  they fell like embers. Snowflakes became a thing of examination and interest with their vast individualization. He now saw the cloud definitions as they formed into their own creations and structures, while the mountain water twisted carved its own path down the mountainside, driving with the strength of the sea's waves._

_But not everything Severus saw was good and beautiful._

_His first look into the mirror had only lasted the smaller end of a minute of face touching disbelief and ended with smashed glass on the floor and bloodied fists in an event that forced him to be restrained and sedated. He saw the destruction in his own empty eyes that shone like that of far dead stars, and in the pale white scars that lined his throat, shoulders, jawline and his hands and wrists that brought him to grimace and almost vomit. If anything, he wished none of it was noticeable, then maybe he could pretend like nothing happened._ _But, as he picked things up with scarred fingers, and as the scars that came from under his jaw and ripped up the right side of his lips attracted attention, he would travel his days, constantly reminded of the truth he wished he never had to have dealt with._

**End Pov**

* * *

 

Severus sat at the empty kitchen table, his hood habitually raised and the black scarf tightly around his neck as he sat watching his fingers pick at an old stain on the table cover as the tea cooled beside him. Tapping his fingertips, he leaned back into the chair and took a deep breath and brought his mind to silence.

"Hey, you."

He heard her before she entered, and he twitched his fingers up in a welcome while keeping his eyes on the little square print table cover.

He heard her sigh behind him and listened to the change in her direction. Not long after, her arms draped over his shoulders and her cheek nuzzled against the side of his head.

"What's wrong?" She whispered as her eyes locked on where he was looking. She traced his scarred fingers with her eyes as he picked the table.

He didn't say anything, and she slid her hand away and lowered a handful of potion vials onto the table by his tea before pressing her nose and forehead against the back of his head.

"Are you okay?" She whispered.

He tapped once and she smiled and planted a kiss between his ear and jawline. She squeezed both his shoulders and shuffled away.

"You let me know when you're ready to be social."

She smiled as she heard the single tap come from behind her as she left the kitchen to seek out her brother.

It was not long after she left Severus with his potions that she had run off to gather Aven and pull him outisde.

"Ember. Slow down." Aven called over her head.

"Come on Av, don't be such an old man."

"We're not old."

"You can have a young age, but an old attitude." She snapped at him and Aven rolled his eyes and picked up a jog across the farm.

He had hardly had time to put his boots on and as he allowed himself to be pulled by his sister, he thought of his warm coat he had left in the house. 

"Look!" She jumped on the fence and pointed out to the horse paddock excitedly. 

She was dressed in a long waving brown coat over a plaid and t-shirt. On her feet she wore farm boots d a fit pants that slipped over her boots and were tailored not to touch the ground. Her fingernail was painted bright red and was pointed into the paddock excitedly. 

"I don't know what I'm looking at," He said unimpressed, but always patient with his sister.

"Beanie! Come here, girl!" She had named the paint herself, and as she called and clicked, her work horse turned and Aven watched it approach and took in the size of the belly.

"We're going to be grandparents!" She said excitedly rubbing her hand on the mare's face.

"It's a horse, Ember… We can't be grandparents to a foal."

"Yes, we can!"

"No, we can't."

She grumbled as she shifts her feet on the bottom pole of the fence she's perched on as Aven acted like his normal fun killing self, 'I wish I brought, Severus." 

"He wouldn't have had much of a different reaction."

"At least he wouldn't have said anything."

The twins shared a chuckle before Aven pulled himself over the fence.

"Well, let's see what we've got here."

He ran his fingers over the horse's belly and checked a few medical points before stepping back.

"Well, you're correct. She's definitely pregnant." Aven sighed as he looked over to the three males who stood watching them from the other side of the paddock.

"Oh, I'm so excited! A foal!"

"Yeah, yeah." He sighed heavily. "We will need to separate the mother now and cut her workload." He whistled a sound that rode on the wind and quickly after, a few house elves scurried over and stopped at the fence.

"Mr. Aven, sir. What can we do, sir?" The head of the clan chirped excitedly as him and his notaries stopped in front of Aven.

The head of the clan of house elves was named Murkury, and he was a tiny thing whose placement had come before the fire and his tailored outfit matched those elf houses around him except his was lined with gold which was his show of hierarchy. 

"We have a pregnant horse," Aven started as he lifted himself over the fence and to the outer side, "we need to build her her own smaller paddock, can you schedule this to be started tomorrow?"

"I can have the blueprints finished today, sir." Mukury chirped happily.

"Thank you," Aven said respectfully as the head house elf scurried off with his group.

Embers arms were around his midsection quickly and tightly, and Aven dropped his arm over her shoulders. She buried her face into his taller form and made a noise of excitement.

"We're expecting a baby!"

"We are not expecting a baby… The horse is." Aven corrected dully.

"Stop it, Aven!" She objected, hitting his chest which brought out a smile from him.

"Fine. How wondrous it must be that we are expecting a foal."

"Okay, I'm done. Sod, off." She pushed away from him and stomped off.

He laughed and called after her and she ignored him and took herself up to her room.

...

Ember Fields lived in a home of males.

A living situation she didn't mind.

Usually..

She lay on her back on her fuzzy, fluffy rug on the wooden bedroom floor and looked up at the ceiling she had painted to look like a stormy sky.

Ever since Severus brought them out into the muggle world, she had begun to be reminded of the fact there were other women outside the walls of the farm. That men, especially the two she lived with, were not the warmest out there and they were not the most emotionally driven. Above all, they were not feminine. She missed her girlfriends, she missed shopping, she missed picking out colors and splurging on small personal things inside of shops. She missed window shopping in Hogsmeade and in the cities around her which was something she loved but had not done in so long. Narcissa used to buy her whatever she wanted…

Narcissa…

They were best friends. They were thick as thieves and Bella and Lucius, loved it.

Or so she had thought…

To be thrown out of the world like that, to receive no help or communication from those who once swore their love. The twins refusal of personal beliefs broke everything they had known, and quicker then they could respond, their friends had attacked for blood, leaving her alone with her brother in some family hideout in a situation where she would never return home or see her parents again. Life would never return to normal. Never.. Everything with Narcissa, with the Blacks and the Malfoys, was gone. It would take a lot maybe too much… but from what she could see of the days that passed from their last encounter with Narcissa, there had been no communication from the woman and the chances were that Narcissa had pushed the twins in the back of her mind once again. Something that Ember assumed came rather easily for her.

A knock came from the bedroom door and Ember gave a disgruntled sigh which prompted the door to open. It was Severus who stood in the threshold, and Ember wouldn't tell him she saw the flash of her brother come from over his shoulder like a ghost.

"What is it?" She asked kindly with a sigh.

He stood there, glancing behind him before stepping into the room and closing the door.

"What?" She asked. 

The look he gave her was enough to read his words, and she pulled her knees up and looked down at the rug.

"You wouldn't understand."

Stepping into the room just slightly, he didn't move in for much comforting, not that she expected it.

_Permit me a guess?_

She nodded.

_Is it that you long for an emotional connection with those who are more like yourself?_

"My old friends.."

_Yesss…._

His answer was drawn out and slithered in the space that was left quiet in its wake. 

'"It's not against you.." She tried.

Severus's eyebrow raised in a way she couldn't fully read, and when she gave up trying, she took a deep breath before flopping back onto the rug.

"This isn't me Severus…" She complained out loud. "While this might be Av, this isn't me... I want friends, a click of girlfriends that I can do girl things with... I want people to do things with in general."

He communicated nothing and Ember moved her eyes over to see him give a nod once she looked at him.

_I have things I must complete outside these stone farm walls. I think it's time we leave the farm in search of more than just the answers of our past…. Come with me. You and Aven... We can get back what you lost, and I can do what I need to._

"Really?!" Ember sat up straight and looked at Severus wide-eyed. "What are we doing?"

_Going to get my voice back._

"How?"

_An adventure._

He appealed to her adventurous side and as expected, a squeal erupted from Ember that even the hidden Aven, who was hung back behind the wooden bedroom door, standing in the shadows of the hallway would hear.

The brother scowled as he knew whatever answer he had, had been made up for him.

....

_Fuck, Severus._

Aven's boot kicked hard against the wall in his bedroom, cracking the stone straight up the wall. With a wand flick, the crack was mended.

Ever since Severus got to his feet, they had been pulling back out to the human world. The world that hurt them. The world that took their parents and home, and they were all doing this with the man who had the Dark Mark scarred on his forearm.

The reason for their pain.

_Fuck, him!_

Ever since he started walking, that man had started this idea in Embers mind. This thought of going back to how things were.

That couldn't happen.

No.

He was foolish last time, and Ember was almost killed for what he did not want to see. Lucius Malfoy wasn't anything to be trusted, no one was, but he had trusted him none-the-less…

They were safe here. They had enough for their entire lives and more. Never again would they feel the pain of betrayal, never again would they spare that chance of compromise. The quiet life on the farm was a perfect life, and a life Aven had full intention of continuing.


	11. To Fight Wind and Water

first To Fight Wind and Water

**Klexos.**

**The art of dwelling on the past**

**Ember.**

Ember cracks her knuckles as she walks down the hall but doesn't realize it until halfway down. Had she always cracked her knuckles, she thinks to herself. Or had she picked it up from Severus? She couldn't decide in time as she was too close to the bedroom door and her voice took over her thoughts.

"Aven. We need to talk," she said to the air as she came around the corner of his bedroom.

The moment she stepped into Avens sight, the cold of his inner walls shivered under her skin. His twist to look at her was slow but rather aggressive, his arms up and slowly crossing over his midsection. His chin tilted forward, his lips thinned and his hair obscured the rest of his face, shadowing his spiking, angry eyes.  With every second, the room became colder and colder. 

"Stop that!" Ember bit, stopping just before passing the threshold of the room. 

Aven cocked an eyebrow while Ember narrowed the space between hers.

"You know what you're doing." She pushed, waving her hand up and down him and around the room at the power he resinated that she was immune to.

He looked at her for another strong moment before dropping his arms and loosened his posture, cracking his neck in the processes, the wave of his neck knocking back his long black hair back over his shoulder and out of his face. Raising his fingers to the bridge of his nose, she watched him take a deep breath before starting again in a new space.

"What is it, sister?" A small, fake smile plays on the corners of his lips as he releases the bridge of his noes. 

"Thank you."

She entered the room fully and closed the door behind her, taking a moment to seal it with protection charms.

"I want to talk to you about, Severus.."

His eyebrow curved again, his tone as fabricated as his look of interest and wonder. "Oh?" 

Even though he released his anger, the known intention of the situation of this conversation created a lasting tension and push against her from him. It felt like a strong, lasting gust of icy wind against her, or that of the cold power of a crashing wave. 

"He," the cold freeze began to rise under her skin as he watched her.  "He's talking about leaving the farm for a bit."

"And you want to go..." Aven finished coldly.

She near rushed him because she knew if she didn't move faster he would be too far walled away. She slipped her fingers between his before he had a chance to bury his fists in his pockets and stepped right up to him and looked up.

"We, Aven…" She pushed the always truth, "It will always be we.."

The violet eyes softened just slightly as the fire that was her warmed his anger and stress in ways the world could never.

"And you want _us_ to go.." He breathed a sigh.

"Yes." She smiled as she looked into his eyes.

There was a pause, and then,

"No."

Suddenly stone, he pulled his hands away and took steps back from her.

"Why?!" She almost cried and he looked away from her.

"Because we are safe here." He tried to explain.

"From what and for how long?! Staying stagnant is.. is dangerous.."

"Oh, now it's dangerous?" Aven turned and threw arms to either side, his body leaning forward at the waist. "That's a rather new opinion."

"Aven, please!"

"What are you asking me?!"

"I want to go with Severus."

"Then go."

He saw the spark that broke in her eyes but shrugged it away and off his worry. If she wanted to go, she should just go. 

"Av.."

She should just go...

"What?" He roughly took her shoulders and lowered his face close to hers. "You're your own person, Ember. I know it may not seem like it, but you are! You want to go with Severus, the man who befriends those who killed your parents, your home, and almost you?! Fine. Go!"

He hardly yelled, instead, he hissed his order angerly in her face, releasing her shoulders as he backed away, expecting her to turn and leave. But she didn't, so he continued as he turned away from her.

She should just go...

"I never wanted to help him!" He admits harshly, "I never wanted to be his friend! That was you Ember. THIS has all been you and I just went along with it. And now look at us! Look where he brought us!"

"You're stuck in the past, Aven... If we go -"

"If we go you'll get hurt.."

"And you know what hurts me, don't you, brother?"

The room chilled instantly as his violet eyes turned to ice. Although his lack of yelling was always credited to defusing Embers temper, there were things he said, and times where lines would be crossed for her. And like Aven, she would rarely yell. 

"What did you say to me?" He stepped up to her, leaning forward to hear what Ember was not afraid to say again.

"I can't ignore the feeling of "choking" here Aven.." Her hand rubbed her neck lightly, "And I honestly can't help but to think staying isolated, is more for you than it is for me. "

"Go back to that choking thing, little sister." Aven stepped up and stepped tall, rolling his finger in a backward motion.

Sibling rivalry was strong between the pair, and Ember would not step down to Avens stone position. She looked hard into his eyes and said exactly what she had meant. 

"By wanting me to stay here, I feel like you're _choking_ the life out of me."

A hard slap echoed the room as Aven, in a whirlwind of fury, slapped her across the face. He followed up by grabbing her upper arm and pulling her to him,

"Fuck you!" His voice was like jagged ice whose touch made her flinch. "If the doctors just let you die, NONE of this would have happened. YOU liked Narcissa and Lucius, YOU wanted to help Severus. Well, fuck me and my opinions, but I miss mom and dad, Em!"

She was out of his grasp and out of the room before anything more could be said, but as he set himself to stay in his room, he heard a third door open. Gritting his teeth, he made his way swiftly out into the hallway he stepped onto the dark green running rug just in time to see Severus exit his room and peer out as the crying Ember ran into her bedroom and slammed the door.

But Aven wasn't watching Ember, and rather quickly Severus's black eyes met his violet and Aven narrowed angerly.  

"Get back in your room, Severus."

He wanted Severus to say something, he wanted someone to punch. But instead, he watched Severus take a step back and watched as his figure became that just of the wooden door with the single, small click.

It didn't take long once locked away in the silence of his room, but Aven felt lower than a street dog.

What Ember said was wrong… It wasn't his fault and he should never, in no way be tied to that event as a purposeful thing. But he had hit her for it, and as the back of his hand pulsed from the hard contact, he only kept on remembering what he did.

He wouldn't have wrapped the cord himself… He wouldn't have tried to kill his sister before birth consciously. 

Anger clouded his vision as her words echoed through her mind, but they were words that were said that were extremely not meant. He knew he shouldn't have expected Ember to stay here forever and in the entire truth of things, he didn't really want to either. But it was the safest option.. so why wouldn't they? He sighed angerly, apart of him longed for his sister to have developed that trait of staying still in isolation, but wishing that would happen was beyond anything he could expect of her. They were two extreme opposites, and while it worked for them almost the entire time, there were moments like this where things would escalate out of control because neither of them knew how to stop it.

Set to do things right, he opened his bedroom door to see Severus leaning against his bedroom threshold, toes on the mark that separated the room and hallway while Ember, cascaded in the low bedroom light in the dark hall, stood tearfully for a moment before turning to look at him, her features morphing from sadness to anger and defense.. 

"Ember." He started towards her, ignoring the fact the two had to have been communicating. Or, at least Severus had been listening to her.

"Aven, please," Ember stressed, stepping closer to Severus with every step he took closer, ending up behind him as he stopped a respectful distance between them, and glanced at Severus and then his sister. The man was only wearing a black tight tank top and loose hanging over robe that hung open exposing the many scars of his fatal battle. He had most likely been sleeping when their fight broke out into the hallway.

"He's not going to protect you from me," Aven said dully, looking over Severus's shoulder and into the room.

"Why would you think that?" Ember tested.

He looked over and met Severus's eyes and after a quick moment, Ember found Severus's hand on her back, pushing her out into the hallway.

As she turned to protest Severus, Aven reached his hand out and grabbed hold of Embers robe sleeve, tugging her off balance and over to him. He wrapped his arms tightly around her in a strong hug, and pressed his chin to the top of her head.

"Stop." He issued and soon her fighting slowed. "If you want to leave, fine.." He shrugged a shoulder lamely. "No one could ever stop you before. But you're not going to expect me to stay behind and tend to the home..."

"Oh, Aven!"

So quickly it all turned into a case of simple sibling anger, and so quickly it was all over and the twins embraced in a tight hug fo a minute before Aven stood up and walled away before the amused looking Severus.

"I must be off for the night." Aven started as cold as ever, glaring at Severus, " _You_ , you should go to bed soon as well. Tomorrow you have injections at eight am sharp. Understood?"

Severus nodded and exchanged a look with Ember before slipping fully into his room and shutting the door behind him as he and Ember started back to their bedrooms a little further down the hall.

"He didn't leave his room... did he?" Aven asked her quietly and she gave him a small laugh and shook her head no.

"Toes to the threshold the entire time."

"He's such a git." Aven sighed and slipped into Embers bedroom with her, which earned him a look.

"Why wouldn't you have gone with Severus alone?" Aven pushed quietly, closing the bedroom door, determined on getting his answers before bed.

"Who says I wouldn't have..." She laughed.

The look he gave was of the pure notion he wasn't going to entertain her delusion and quickly enough, Ember sighed and rolled her eyes around the room. 

"Because I couldn't," Ember started weakly as she pulled back pillows and blankets, "I love you more than him... or anyone else. And I will always stay by your side regardless of what I want.. Even though I really want this."

Aven took a moment to glare through locks of his hair, glancing between her and the floor before taking a breath.

"Is leaving that important to you?"

"Yes." Ember stated without looking up or giving enough time for even a blink.

"What about the farm?"

"The help can run it. It's not going to be a long trip."

"And if you get hurt in the duration..?"

She stood up and looked him in the eye, "I'll learn my lesson about straying too far from the safety of home."

Aven stepped up and cast himself over Ember before resting his hand on the top of her head and kissing her crown gently.

"You drive me absolutely crazy, Ember."

"Right up the wall like spiders, my brother." She smiled and laughed, "I'll drive you so mad you'll never come back."

"Why would I ever want too? Sanity is such a boring prison."

Her arms were around his neck and her face buried deep into his shoulder. He picked her off her feet and hugged her tightly.

"Thank you, Aven.."

"I don't like this." He grumbled into her shoulder.

"I know." She smiled to herself. "I love you, Av"

"As I you."

Aven was gone and out of the room not long after putting her down, leaving Ember to smile and look around the room, she had called home for so long.

"It'll be an adventure," She whispered to the wind and empty space. 


	12. 1 for Yes 2 for No

**1 for Yes. 2 for No.**

_Exulansis n._

_The tendency to give up trying to talk about an experience because people are unable to relate to it_

 

If all that had happened in her years as a child never happened, she wouldn't be where she was just then. Standing, bravely none the less, in front of the office door of _the_ Lucius Malfoy. She was confident in her claims she had planned and had been finishing up going over her lines for the numerous time when suddenly, the door opened for her, surprising her. Deciding to step in, she looked around the grand, expensive office in its dark color scheme and warm comfortable table and parlor set up by a green glass and stone fireplace. She quickly found Lucius, he was staring straight at her from his spot behind his large, black wood wooden desk to the right of her. He was leaning forward, eyes holding strong. He was older now and looked it just slightly, his still thick hair was highlighted with whites which hardly looked any different in most lighting settings. Lucius had a new terrifying allure about him as well. That of a hungry tiger whose rotted iron cage was about to break. She felt the tethered being of his chains and his resenting irritation that which would always remind her of Snape.

"When you arrived I planned on letting you knock on your own," His voice carried along lucid and smooth. "But, after some time and enough people walking by, I needed to end your failed attempt at pulling together enough mental fortitude to knock on my door."

What she wanted to say outside the door began to falter in her mind as she found her position lost and now, completely distracted for the moment, she didn't hear the door click closed behind her. She gave small, innocent smile until she felt the magic warm the air against her back as the door sealed it's self properly from any outside invasion. She tried hanging on to what she put together, but now, locked inside the darkness of the snake den, she stood out of place and far from home. 

Pulling up her practiced talk, she began with a reset of her position and started an approach to his desk.

"You don't like me" She began just to hear him snort. 

"What an insulting assumption," He purred with a small side smile that covered his grit teeth and tone.

"But, I wondering if you could still answer a question for me?" She asked boldly.

"I'd be most honored to give an answer to someone of you're academic stature, Ms. Granger."

He was an odd man, Hermione had decided that a very long time ago. 

"You never told anyone about our meeting in the files section, did you?" She asked calmly.   
  
He had been looking at her and nothing in his face had changed at all, but now his eyes were heavier, holding her with far more attention than before.

"Why are you here?" His voice was suddenly very quiet. 

"That day you had your own folder in your hand, I remember that.." She stopped before his desk. "More importantly, you didn't tell anyone you saw me, did you?"

"I've yet to find a conversation where the point would be relevant enough to mention." He explained quietly. "Anyway, you're repeating yourself."

She understood, nodded and moved on, "You know, I haven't said anything either."

Confused now, he looked over. "I appear to be lost, Ms. Granger. What's your point?"

She was rambling, trying to come off as mysterious and dark. But she didn't have a chance, not against Lucius. Darkness wasn't something in her that she could just pull up and produce, she proved quite eloquently that day she appeared at Gringotts as Bellatrix.  Clearing her scattering mind, she looked at the senior Malfoy again, who was looking clearly more confused than corner, and she erased her next few planned sentences and brought her point around.

"I'm not quite sure you put that folder back."

He nodded. "Quite a long-winded way for such a simple accusation," he shrugged. 

He wasn't acting the way she wanted him to and Hermione found herself getting irritated at him for breaking her plans and throwing her off so.

"I think it was, Severus Snape's folder."

"Don't you mean,  _Professor Snape."_ He growled looking away from her.

There was a pause in him and she planned on waiting for the answer she wanted to hear, but when she thought she finally had the upper hand, Lucius Malfoy was, well, Lucius Malfoy.

"Well, Ms. Granger," He leaned back in his black leather, high back desk chair, his face content, reasonable, and quite passive. "You're right. I took the folder belonging to Professor Snape. But, like your own particularly random folder choice, you'll find it back in its proper place."

"But I was just there."

"Oh?"

"Yes! And the file is missing.."

"Is that the case?"

"Yes." She pushed through her growing anger towards the man, laying the tops of her fingers on his wax topped desk.

"In the department files?" He asked, watching her fingers before looking at up her, his voice easy and calm.

"Yes!"

"For the second time this week?"

She looked at him, "I was looking for a folder." She shrugged, putting her hand on her hip, retreating from the space she had gained when she leaned into his still sitting form.  "There's nothing wrong with that."

"True. But let's discuss that premise for a moment," He started with a stricter tone, his seat adjusting as his finger of one hand flicking in the air and his elbows landed on his desk. His angry grey eyes flickered dangerously in the low lighting, his face set for total seriousness. " _Why_ , Ms. Granger, are you looking up, Severus Snape?" 

If there was a documentary or a book about creature warning signs for her to look up she wouldn't have needed to, and if she was smart, she would have left this office a long time ago. Lucius Malfoy was a solitary creature who didn't accept long interaction with people he didn't see fit for gain. He didn't allow personal matters to be discussed with others and was violently territorial in his nature. She almost continued but perhaps she had already talked too much. She had realized what he was doing, how he was warning her, and Hermione, who had learned many lessons in her younger years, chose her next few words more carefully, keeping in mind what direction she wanted the conversation to go in.

"Mister Malfoy," She reset once again, a move that earned her a smirk as she danced around his cobra bite. "My point is this. I find myself within an event where a man of your stature would have rather put verbal trust in a muggle born like me, then risk the chance of letting me go without the idea not to mention seeing you. Well.. People only protect themselves when they feel like they need protection so, factoring all that, I'm landing on the assumption that what you were doing was just almost as scandalous as me knowing who the Fields twins are.."

He paled. He had paled when she mentioned her blood type and his smirk broke when she mentioned him trusting her. When she had mentioned the twins by the last name, his fingers had curled inwards and held tightly.

"We were both in compromising positions." He pushed, eyes narrowing, clearly becoming bristled.

"I know, and I think you have Severus Snape's _official_ files."

He looked her up and down. 

"I told you, I already returned them."

"They aren't there."

"Then I didn't take them, did I?" He paused and flicked his eyes up and down her disdainfully. "You're so confident even when you're wrong." He muttered darkly, returning into himself.

"I always have been."

"Well, then hows this?" He entwined his fingers loosely and lay his single fist on the desk table before him.  "You grant me some of that trust I've _clearly_ given you, and you mind me when I say that I put the file back." When he spoke his words were an acidic last draw of patience.

It was then Hermione realized with a cold dread that seeped under her skin, that she was indeed at fault. She kicked herself as his last, acidic, angry word was said. She came here, to his office, unannounced and caught in her own beliefs. She came here, to Lucius and accused him passively, almost insultingly of a crime she didn't actually know if he committed. 

She took a step back and shook her head.

"That doesn't make sense,"

"Which part? That I didn't do it? Or that someone else was skilled enough to get a file out?"

"What?" Hermione asked, looking up. 

"What?" He asked back. 

" _Get the file out._ So you mean the file is gone?"

He sighed and shook his head. He was done and would casually dismiss her.

"Leave."

"Why!" 

"Because!" His bark was sharp and silencing.

She looked at him, hearing her own fathers words in his voice. 

"Why would I take Severus Snape's files, to begin with!"  He leaned back in the chair, clearly losing control of his cool composure.

"Because I think, you were his best friend."

"Best friends, with Snape?" He scuffed. "Whatever gave you that idea?"   
  
The way Lucius said it would have made anyone think he was revolted by the fact Severus Snape was someone he even associated with, but, Hermione knew better because she remembered all the years of their names being brought up together when adults thought they were alone. 

"He's dead." Lucius spat angerly as he watched her walk towards to door. "None of this matters anyway."

She stopped and turned to look at him, still there, still bristled.

"Is he?" She said simply. 

She wanted anything from the man. A flinch in his eye, a tightening of his fingers. She watched to see if his shoulders tightened or if his jaw set. But nothing. Lucius had turned into the stone formation of mute emotion and after a moment of silence that bothered her greatly, she was almost relieved to hear his voice when he finally spoke. 

"I don't know." His answer simple. 

They stayed looking at each other for a moment, the heaviness gone but the emotionless mask remaining. Lucius said nothing, nor looked like he had anything he would want to say and soon she chose to turn to leave. She wanted him to call her or grab her attention but he didn't, and Hermione allowed the door handle to fall back to place but did not let go as she turned to address him a final time. 

"Mister, Malfoy." He was still watching her, but she just pretended that he had looked up from his work, "I'd appreciate it if you wouldn't tell anyone about this." 

He gave her a sick sneer as she smiled warmly in response to him before leaving his office and closing the door behind her.

* * *

 

**Ember Fields**

The next morning, Aven would administer four shots into Severus's neck and collar by hand. Four thick needles with painful liquids were gently slipped into four different spots under the skin by the black-gloved wearing, silently standing brother. One for his voice. One for his muscle strength and two to keep the healing process clean and clear of any sort infection. The next hours that passed would be with Ember and Aven moving about the farm, magicking the workload around them as they waited for the sign of Severus's next move. But hours passed and the call had yet to come. It would be when they came inside that they saw that Severus, who should have been laying down letting the medication sit had instead been up, making the kitchen as well the entirety of the downstairs clean, successfully finishing the rest of the chores.

"Severus!" Ember called from the bottom of the stairs when he wasn't to be found on the ground floor an hour later. She had grown inpatient and as was her way, acted on her strained impulses.

It was like a ripple, that was the only way she could explain it. A shift in the air that was sent by a single space. Looking behind to see Aven start off into the kitchen to meet his own goals, she followed where the ripple came from and found Severus rather predictably in his room. As she came around the door and into view, he quickly looked up from the cross-legged position on his bed and Ember tried her best to ignore the rip of pain that flashed across his face as he forgot his wounds. As he lowered his neck she shuffled across the hardwood floor and landed at his side on the bed, sitting on her leg and lacing her arm around his.

She glanced down at the book he had opened and asked him, "What are you reading?"

Keeping his fingers on the page, Severus flipped the cover so that she could see the title, " _Aviation Able Creatures. Index A - F_ " shone in golden flake ink on the deep maroon hardcover.

She leaned her head against his arm and she scanned the large pages as he turned them at a moderate speed, at times skipping pages.

"What are you doing?"

He didn't communicate anything, but Ember watched him scanning the pages with his eyes.

"Let me guess. You're looking up a creature?" When he tapped twice she sighed and glanced at the stacked Index which sat laying on the mattress and noticed all the books were of the same style and alphabet half, "You're looking for a specific creature?"

He had landed on her knee and a single tap was given, showing her accreditation to an analytically well-done job. When a moment passed and his hand stalled, she felt the weight pull back and quickly she pinched his sleeve, her weight keeping his hand down. He relaxed, and she looked up to see his eyes hadn't left the page, but he hadn't seemed to be reading. 

"I'd really like to ask the importance.. or get a hint of what you're looking for. But, I have a feeling you're not in the mood to tell me."

Another tap on her knee brought Ember to sigh.

"I swear," She spoke softly as she rest her cheek on his shoulder, "the two of you being my only means of communication is slowly driving me mad. Did you know, I had a full conversation with the barn cat today while charming the pickfork for mucking duty?"

The double tap was only done with his middle finger and she hit her forehead against his shoulder.

"You're the most obnoxious creature I know and you don't even talk."

Him only giving a single tap in response pushed her away and she fell back against the mattress giving a loud, lasting sigh.

"Git." She whispered under her breath, bringing her foot back before pushing out and landing her heel on his spine with a hard tap.

_Insufferable._

She sat up quickly as she heard his projection, and gave his back a lightly burning glare.

"I really love that the things you choose to say, when you choose to say them, are almost always outright and rude."

She waited for anything, anything at all, but his silence was loud enough and she knew he knew what he was doing was just as irking as what he had to say. Ember went back to pushing her foot against his back and smiled when she saw him adjust as she rolled her heel over where she guessed was a knot.

With a sweep of his arm, he pushed her foot off him as he turned to face her before dropping the open book between them, moving with his shoulders and waist to a standing position. He glanced at her for only a moment before landing his finger on the page as he pushed the book towards her. She looked it over, but quickly knew by the picture what he was showing her. 

"Phoenix? You know what a Phoenix is" She chuckled. "Fawks.."

The sharp look he shot at her for bringing up anything relating to Albus silenced her and brought her gaze to drop quickly back to the page.

"Is this where we're going?" Her finger landed on a mountain picture but looked up when she couldn't feel the connection that came with the ability. His arms were crossed but she saw his finger tap once.

The illustration was a rough drawing of a mountain whose peak was surrounded by very dark clouds. She looked up again to see him nod her on, prompting her to read allowed.

"The top of the tallest trees, or a rock face on the top of a treacherous mountain or cliff. Only in the most desolate, hard weathered place where the eye of the storm forever protects them, the Phoenix meet in a group of about six to eighteen and lay a community of nests together all year around. Even if one was to reach the roosting place, the Phoenix, turned territorial and aggressive, will attack as an entire flock violently and unmercifully. Proud parents with strong breeding community base, the Phoenix will risk wing and life to protect those in its group…"

She looked up at Severus who had stood staring at her while holding another book in one hand.

"Is this where we're going, Severus? Are we really going to do this?"

He nodded his head slowly and passed her the small, red hardcover book with no name on the top where right under his finger sat a big bold name.

 ** _Morrora Winds_**.

She knew this name as a mountain a few days travel by what would have to be on foot because its base was magically protected by the Ministry conservationists.

"Why?"

He turned away from her and moved to look elsewhere. " _Because..."_ His voice cut out for a moment. _"Because_ _Tom Riddle's was just apart of the plan."_

"What? How do you know…?"

 _"When I was attacked. I connected with the Horcrux. My last memories were Najinis…."_ His voice died away and Ember recognized the signs of a struggle but wouldn't ask about it. _"Voldemort will return to both worlds. A muggle world creature of great demonic power... I know this Ember,"_   He turned back to her. _"I_ _know this as a fact."_

"You need to tell the Ministry."

His face remained blank, eyes dull and unimpressed.

"Why can't you tell anyone? I mean at least, Minerv-"

_"Focus is fuel. The more people to worry and think about it…"_

He turned away and took a moment to calm his mind.

_"If I do nothing, I am nothing but loyal to his return. No better than who I was."_

His voice was continuing to come in and out, his sentences were being structured shorter, he was tired and as much as she wanted to stay and ask all the questions she wanted to, she knew she couldn't. 

Ember would say goodnight after that but would not be communicated anything in return. She didn't know if she believed him. She didn't know the reason behind them seeking a Phenix roost. She didn't know what he meant by Voldemorts returning, but the one thing that seemed to trump it all was his overall tone of movement and the lacking manner that which he had communicated.  
  
Something was wrong with him and she felt like he knew it too. 

 

*******************************'

 


	13. Chapter 13

**Hermione Granger**  
  
She should have been happy. This was everything that she wanted. A new, pretty dress, new pretty shoes, pretty hair, pretty makeup and even fancy accessories that she was able to afford without breaking her bank. She was around other beautiful woman and handsome, rich man. Even Lucius, Draco, his apparent girlfriend, and Narcissa were there. She was attending with Ronald, who was making a lively chat with the help more so than the other guests, a note that was brought up off handily when she politely greeted the Malfoys alone. Fortunately, this would be just the standard, single interaction that she would have with the family, though would catch each of the members glancing over at her, each with entirely different looks throughout the night. Narcissa looked as if she had questions she wanted to ask. Draco looked passive and more as if he was insulting her situation in his mind. And Lucius, though he didn't look often, looked over as the towering force above his family, his glare warding her away as if she had any inkling to say anything further. 

But she was frustrated because Ron would not stand by her like Lucius stood by his wife. She was frustrated because he was not here to talk him up and make her feel as radiant as tried to look.  She was upset because Ron made no attempt to join conversations with those his partner needed to create a good face to face acquaintanceship with. Instead, those same people would comment so casually that people find comfort with those most like them and that _his_ type, the type she chose to present herself with, was one with more in common with the help. Hermione tried to ignore the fact they were talking about her boyfriend but it was hard to ignore the truth, even when others weren't pointing it out. Still, she felt back when she laughed at the joke. He wasn't there to hear her anyway. It's wasn't his party to enjoy... There was no reason for her to be this upset and she promised herself this would be the last glass as she finished her second. Ron though, well... that night ended with the very sober and full Hermione leading the swaying Ron out of the building feeling utterly infuriated but not saying a word. 

She's preparing for this future behind her soft expressional mask. She had glanced over a moment ago and saw his glass was higher than the last time she looked. She also knew better than to think his version of fun came from fancy people and sophisticated gatherings. Hermione chases her down her already straining nerves with a very small sip of her crystal champagne glass as it has refilled the small amount which would be the last. She would give up the goblet with the passing of a floating tray that would pass by a short moment later.

"Oh. I wholeheartedly agree, Minister." She would comment charismatically, "I actually started a little organization I called, S.P.E.W., or the Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare, in my fourth year."

"Oh yes!" His eyes glanced at her and he gave a smile and rose his hand to give a notice before turning back to her. "I did hear about that. Very, very ambitious, Ms. Granger."

The look of genuine interest and agreement that was passed between the high ranking ministers was more of a sensation of euphoria than any of the last few weeks in bed with her significant other. 

"Oh?" Hermione asked. "From who?"

"Hm? Oh, I'm not sure," He wasn't looking at her anymore, instead he was looking off to the side. "But I think it was that boy, Severus Snape." His voice was incredibly off-handed and he clearly didn't think about what he said and how it shocked her. He was already gone from the moment, his eyes on a target and a quick mouthing of words were passed between passing people.

"I'm sorry, excuse me, Ms. Granger. Someone seems to be in urgent need of me. Please, excuse me." 

She smiled and gave another nod but as her eyes passed by with the walking away of the minister, she noticed in her peripherals the flash of red hair. She watched him, by the bar which wasn't odd in its self, but what upset her was who he was talking to. Behind the table stood a rather pretty woman with long blond hair and what looked like a pretty laugh. She laughed at Ron as he laughed also and with a sting to her heart, she watches him take another full glass from the very radiant, wide-smiling woman. 

Her heart picked up when she saw Ron lean against the table. His eyes too focused on the bar miss, his attention to lost to notice her walk out the door in a rush. She walked from the castle, and under the open stone corridor around the impressive garden. The crickets and the toads make their own music that rivaled the beauty of the orchestra inside the party hall. She couldn't help but cry. She couldn't help her burning eyes that hurt more of an embarrassment than the fact Ron seemed to be enjoying himself with another woman. She cried because he did that in front of everyone she wanted to be. That night she would cry alone in the darkness of the empty, unlit courtyard just the same way she had that night of the Yule Ball. Feeling ugly, embarrassed, and angry.

A thought crosses her mind, the ending of which would only make her cry harder.

Why couldn't Ron just be a little bit more like a Malfoy? 

* * *

**Aven Fields**

  
Aven paced in his room that late afternoon. He was angry at the news of the travel, he was upset about the task, and it was taking everything he had to not knock the reason for all of it out cold. Putting Ember in that position... Snape was throwing away her safety without a care... With his fist balled and his teeth biting harshly on his cheek he turned to leave the room, throwing the shot glass he was holding against the nearby wall, shattering it. He would clean it up when he got back, he promised himself this as he threw the sling on the pack over his shoulder and roughly shut the bedroom door as he left.  

With a walkthrough of the ground floor, Aven stepped outside and quickly picked up the sound of his sister's laughter from the pond that lay out of view of the front porch door where he stood. He tried though, he tried to attempt to see over the hill and brush but alas, he couldn't see the shore. He chose to follow the noise of the one-sided chatter, and he listened to the splashing and laughter growing louder and louder, and Aven approached, knowing he would find who he was looking for on the other side of the brush. He would choose though, to wait and watched them from the cover of the nearby foliage. Ember was ankle deep in the large sparkling pond, with her pants hiked up to around her knees and her face directed to the shore. Her attention most likely on Severus, who was sitting on a beached log with a notebook on his lap, and a quill that moved in a sketching fashion. Aven watched as she called to Severus, extending her hand out as he looked up.

He denied without a word, but she was resilient as always and went on to pressure him to come in with her, seemingly arguing with him as if he was responding. He wasn't. Aven would know if he was. His body impulsively stiffened as he heard her pull the same voice she used on him but to Severus. That little girl pleading tone that seemed to have the same effect on Severus because not long after she started, he stood up. With an irritated look, he started from the log and walked to the bank, only bringing Ember to laugh aloud as he trudged into the water shoes, socks and all.

He trudged right up to her and grabbed her roughly at the base of the neck which brought Aven a step closer to exposure as he watched the man's next action with strict attention, his fingers grazing over the wood of his wand. Embers hand went around Severus's wrist as he gripped securely and pulled her backwards through the water at an arm's length. He then stopped, froze a moment while looking at her before slowly, with a straight, solemn expression he pulled her closer to him. Aven released the breath as Severus's harsh, narrowed eyed glare, ended with his forehead against hers and the dropping of his hand.

This was probably one of those private moments he shouldn't have had seen, but that wasn't new, and this wouldn't the first time a twin walked in on another. 

He watched Severus turn away from the standing, smiling Ember and start back to the beach leaving her to smile then turn away. Aven watched his sister throw her hands up through the water as she pushes from the ground and starts off in a swim to the floating dock that was floating short ways out.

It only took Severus a few steps once on the beach when the man would slow and tense his shoulders. The brother's eyebrow would curve upwards until Severus, in a straight and intentional motion, turned at the waist and locked eyes with the violet-eyed man. Aven's eyebrow lowered as his lips broke into a dark, mocking smile as he felt the connection made. With a cocky grin, he leaned his shoulder against the tree trunk, his arms crossed and eyes glancing towards his sister who had made it to the dock. Looking back, Aven curved an eyebrow as a promise of testing and he watched Severus stop to check that Ember's attention was elsewhere himself before walking right past the log and into the shade and up to Aven's smirking form.

_"What?"_

Severus's harsh snap of words cracked through the space between them. Aven looked away and huffed a small laugh while shaking his head. 

"I didn't say a word, Severus. I was just watching your little spree there with my sister."

Severus narrowed his eyes and popped his knuckles irritably with his thumb which made Aven's grin larger. In time, Avens eyes rose up the tree he leaned on.

"But since you asked," He breathed as he stepped closer to Severus, stopping eye level with the other man, sizing himself and pushing for the weaker to attack first or back down, "I like you, Severus, I do. We have a lot in common, I can handle living with you, and I enjoy your spanning friendship.... however stressful it has become. But. I'll say this,"

Here, Aven drove his finger into Severus chest plate, into a scar that once saved his life,

"I don't like you touching my sister, and I suggest any ideas you have, need to be washed away with the lake water. She is not for you, she deserves better than some mute, x-teacher and murderer."

The smirk Severus gave only angered Aven further.

"What?!"

_Well, I would think that's up to her._

Aven's hand was around the front Severus's shirt, and he shoved the black haired man back, slamming his spine into the tree with enough force to crack his back and splinter the tree.

"Listen here, you fucking git." Aven spat near literal venom as he hung his face in front of the wincing mans. "You're 'going' to stay away from her like that. I still remember what's on your arm and the person you are deep down in that locked basement. I'm warning you... if anything happens to her on this trip..."

With another hard shove that was rewarded with a pained, guttural groan from Snape, loosening his grip Aven looked back towards the beach. Ember hadn't noticed and seemed to be distracted by a passing family of ducks she waved too. In the time he took to watch his sister, Severus had recovered as quickly as he could with what he had. Avens grip was loosened but still held and Severus would watch Avens eyes the man blink once and turn back. Aven stood over Severus though they stood at the same height and they stood staring at each other while the sound of Embers laugher echoed in from the lake. She was insulting the farm dog who had jumped off the dock and from what they heard, was swiming after the duck family.

"Anything, Severus." Came Avens voice, low and carried in the wind. "Especially, if you hurt her." Aven turned his head to look at Severus who could not meet his attention and who would just stare at Ember. "I swear to Merlin, Severus...."

_Your love of your sister is clear, I do not need to be threatened any further._

Aven gave a snarl and slipped away from the shade, his destination being his sister with whom he would never allow the pain of any kind to touch without the promise of a painful destruction and Severus would be no different. He had nothing more say to the man on the topic and walked away knowing that by the next day the two would be back to their normal cold selves towards each other.

It was an odd friendship, but a strong friendship none-the-less.


	14. Chapter 14

**The Space By My Side**

 

 _Heartworm_  
_Noun._  
_A relationship or friendship that you can't get out of your head, which you thought had faded long ago but is still somehow alive and unfinished, like an abandoned campsite whose smoldering embers still have the power to start a forest fire._

 

**Ember Fields**  

  
"So, where are we going?" Ember asked, breaking the silence of the quietly sitting room.

It was midnight, the house was dark, the grounds were set and the world was rather silent with even the rhythm of nature closed out with the cold. It was normal for the group of Slytherin insomniacs to be gathered around the kitchen table for a cup of tea before bed. It was normal for them not to say much, it was normal to play a card game as they drank. It was normal for them to talk the entire time. But the normality of silence held a vibe of tension that rests just outside the realm of comfort. Tonight, the room sits heavy as not a word had been spoken since Aven sat down with Ember before Severus had even entered the kitchen. Behind Severus, whose back faced the stove, magic had moved the kettle from the burner and had set the cup and saucer sets.  The tea was mixed and was floated to the spots in front of each of the three, the fine china landing with a slight clink upon the wood. 

It was only then that he would spread his only message of the entire day.

 _"The phoenix roost."_  Severus's voice wisp through their minds sounding like a tired sigh.

"And where is that?" Amber questioned, glancing at the large old world map that hung on the kitchen wall.

_"I don't know."_

The energy of the room paused before Avens voice would splinter the comforting silence.

"Alllright.... How do we get there?' 

 _"I don't know,"_   His voice repeated as he glared daggers at his tea.

Embers next question came quickly. "Where is the roost?"

Now there was no response at all, but the cracking of Severus's knuckles could be heard clearly as he went.  He wouldn't answer, and after a minute Aven became tired of the games.

"So," Aven reasoned blankly, "What do we do when we get there?"

The insulting, sarcastic humoring that radiated from Aven was intense enough to feel the energy of bury under the skin. 

A connection was made but nothing would be heard for a minute.

_"We steal an egg."_

"So," Aven almost fully laughed as he leaned back against the chair and looked up at the ceiling. "You want us to help you steal an egg from a phoenix roost."

His expression went from surprised, to shock, to the darkened, forbidding expression that many have curled their spine under. Aven looked from the ceiling and dropped his anger upon the man in black who sat in front of him. Aven had the power of a different sort of terrifying than that of the explosive Professor for the reason that Aven wasn't overly explosive. As Ember had explained the pair many times, Aven would always resemble the shadow, while Severus resembles that of a striking snake. Her heart broke further when instead of a response, Severus would tap his index and middle finger on the table top once.

Aven just glared at him a heat even she could feel. 

"Well," She looked over to her brother just as he glanced over to her, his hand twitching as he motioned to her, "Can I at least get acknowledgment this is a dangerous task?"

She looked down and bit her lip, nodding her head and Aven growled angrily.

"Yes or no, Ember…"

"Yes, Aven," She looked up at him while avoiding the side stare Severus was casting towards her.  "This certainly is quite a start."

"I would rather do literally anything other than this."  Aven pushed his disdain as he leaned forward and clasped his hands on the table in front of him as Ember couldn't help but nod her head.

Two taps from Severus had Aven bite his cheek and take from his tea.

_"But.... I do have, Fawks."_

Both twins looked up immediately.

"Wh… What do you mean?" Ember breathed.

Looking away, Severus closed his eyes and made his final go for the words that hurt him with every press.

" _Technically_." His voice sounded like fading static.  _"Through loopholes, I'm still considered, Headmaster -"_

"So the Phoenix will serve you.. " Ember finished lightly looking at Aven with an excitement rising in her eyes.

Nodding his head in confirmation, Severus leaned back in the chair exhausted and pained, running his fingers over his collar.

"Wait. How are you s-"

"Problems?" Ember interrupted Aven as she watched Severus winced.

Shaking his head no, ,Aven was not a man of memory and if Severus wanted to power through, Ember knew Aeven would treat him as if he wasn't wearing his wounds.

"So, explain something to me," Aven continues on, "Explain this loophole to us." 

He wouldn't talk, but the quill would rise and scribe on the paper that landed between the two. 

"If Minerva has held any belief that I'm alive, she would give me all the help I could use to get back to her." Ember would read.

"Fawks." Aven nodded understandingly as he took his tea.

"But Minerva has made her presence of Headmaster known to the public." Ember tried to debunk.

The quill would drop and Aven would read the response. "Minerva can present herself as anything she wants too, to any wizard or newspaper that asks. But I have a  _notion_  of the Malfoy family contributing to a delay of legal labeling. If I'm correct... I can summon, Fawks. 

...

Severus Snape was laying in his bed, but he wasn't asleep. He wouldn't turn his back to the door, nor would he let himself drift off quite yet. He waited with his eyes locked on the ceiling, waiting for the sound of the twins slipping off to bed. He listened and eventually, both sets of footsteps moved in unison up the steps and through the hallway. He listened to the water running in the bathroom and words being exchanged quietly in the hallway. He wouldn't intrude and did not pick out words or phrases, he just lay on his back and stared at the ceiling.

After a time, after doors were shut and the house fell into a silence; after entire space of and around the house was at rest did Severus's eyes finally slide closed.

That is, until he heard the bedroom door open.

Freezing his body, he waited and listened as the door closed and the sound of lightweight feet moved across the floorboards. He held his breath as he counted down each step as the presence moved around the bed. He clenched his fists, ready to fight as the feeling of his mattress sinking showed the weight that was now just above him. And then, he felt her silky hair cascaded over the exposed skin of his shoulder and chest as the scent of honey and vanilla was suddenly all he could smell. She landed at his side and warmed his skin as the blanket was pulled back over them. The breath he held made from stress was let out into the back of her neck in a warm breath. He could feel the sensation of Embers small body curl up at his side and his arm would lower and drop over her, locking her in he would pull her closer to him.

 _"Why are you here?"_  His voice whispers in the back of her mind.

She didn't say anything, nor did he really expect her to. Dropping back into a comfortable spot, he ran his fingers through her hair for a while even after she fell asleep, allowing himself to take in the sensation he'd became so unaccustomed to and had nearly all but given up ever experiencing again.

It would take a day or so to summon the Phoenix without going through the school or headmistress, and Ember and Aven would go on unaware of the simple summoning ceremony he performed before bed which would in all hopes, bring the bird to them. If not, if this didn't work, he didn't know how else he could possibly pull this off or even convince the twins of joining him on the suicide run.

He needed this.

 

 

 

.....

 

They would leave the next early afternoon.

Saying goodbye to the house elves who promised the upkeep of their property as well as its safety, Severus and Aven found Ember by the paddock standing alone with the pregnant mare.

Severus stayed back as Aven stepped through the fence and approached his sister. Severus watched as Ember raised her eyes to him and after a moment of speaking, the two embraced each other and Ember pressed her damp eyes into her brother's chest as Aven wrapped an arm and rubbed her back while whispering small reassurance to her.

The twins held the moment before Ember kissed her horse on the face and the twins clicked the travel horses over with them back to Severus.

"We tack up at the barn and ride out," Aven instructed as he clipped the rope on the male Rocky Mountain Horse's bridle, and handed the rope to Severus.

Nodding his head, Severus slipped through the fence and took the rope and together the three lead their horses across and out of the paddock and into the barn where they tacked their horses up with light chatter mainly between Severus and Aven.

Once done, Aven pulled himself up on their father's young, black Friesian that the man had adopted as a foul only a few years before his death. A majestic, thunderous looking horse, Aven sat higher than the rest on the black leather and silver embroidered lined renaissance styled saddle with a deep purple blanket and matching black and purple face piece that ran the length of the horses face.

Ember rose up and tapped into a lazy walk a beautiful mainly black, white patched male Gypsy horse named Shaman, whose long, duel colored mane and tail that started white and tipped black, flowed and waved magnificently as it's muscled body shone distinctive in the sun with every sturdy step. She sat upon a more feminine renaissance styled saddle, with black and deep pink lining color scheme under a black blanket with a matching pink embroidered Deathly Hollows on the side corners. Similar as her brother, her horse wore a more rounded feminine designed face piece.

Aside the twins pulled up Severus, who sat mounted up on Lucid Dreamer, a beautiful all black and white Rocky Mountain horse whose white mane and tail glimmered against his midnight like body. Severus sat on Green, Silver, and Black coloring. A silver snake was embroidered into the middle of the forehead piece, and on either side of the deep colored blanket. On the man's shoulder sat Fawkes, who moved down the man's arm as he stuck it out, and took off into flight as Severus pushed the bird into the air.

Clasping their travel robes, and raising their hoods, the three gave their horses a stern kick and were off into in shadows of a future that promised no tomorrow.

They would travel in silence for hours at a comfortable gallop, each looking around, taking in the landscape of the untouched and lush green fields of England's back land. The scenery had Ember on the outside of the path in clear view of the passing mountains and fields. Each would take a turn at lead, switching every now and then but Severus alone held eyes on the bird at all times. It was a while before the sound of a sharp whistle came through the air and Severus looked down to the earth before him, tapping back on his horse's reins as what looked like a river coming up into view.

All having the same idea, the twins pulled their steads over off the dirt path with Severus coming up behind, and loosed the reins as the horses took way to the riverbed to stand beside each other and drink. Ember sat in the middle and gave a small smile to both men before taking a sip from her own canteen.

"The landscape has been simply extraordinary," Ember sighed as she took another sip.

"I don't think Severus has seen one part of it." Aven mocked as shifted his seat and pat his horse on the neck as it drank.

It was true, Severus's mind had been elsewhere the entire time. Watching the bird fly made him think the entirety of the journey of both past and future and admittedly, Severus had put faith in the horse to understand, and had let the animal control the path most of the way. Fawkes came to rest on the other side of the stream and the trio watched as the bird looked around before taking its own laps of water.

We need to think about setting up camp soon.." Ember sighed as she looked behind her at the setting sun, "The horses have been going all day and will need a good brush down." She finished receiving a nod from both men

"Any idea's?" Aven asked aloud.

"Let's stay to the river, find a spot a bit more secluded maybe?" Ember suggested and received a nod once more before rolling her eyes.

Pulling back on her horse, Ember turned Shaman around and started following down river looking back to see Severus taking up the rear and in time to see the Phoenix settle on the man's shoulder. Looking at her brother who walked behind her, they exchanged a look of questions before Ember turned back around and faced forward.

Yes,, she had a love for Severus. A blood deep attraction to his silence and foreboding, to his background, his scars, his everything. She had a love for it all and the man he was and always had been. She knew, as much as Severus did that there was something from his side as well. They had met four times during Harry Potters years at Hogwarts. Each time resulting in tears and ending under his sheets with him running his fingertips over her bare skin while taking in her scent as she slept. While not commonly intimate in their later years, rarer after the attack from Lucius, they remained close to the soul even though almost not a word was exchanged between them for a very long time. He had never pushed her away from the spot at his side or from under the notch of his arm but there was a time where that spot was a dangerous place to fill. For years before when they all walked as students, she would wash his anger away, always turning him to liquid under her fire licking eyes and doll-like smile.

That night, Severus rest against a log on the other side of the tall fire. Ember lay curled under her brother's arm, her head resting against his chest and her eyes watching the flames through heavy eyelids. At one point a burning sensation rose in his throat that his hand would rise to touch, a sensation he had been feeling for about a week now. He hadn't told anyone and figured it best seeing how they only packed what was planned. Looking back up towards the fire with his eyes, Severus dropped his head as he looked through flames to Ember, who's eyes danced with questions and heat as she watched his action of discomfort.

Aven glanced down and rocked his shoulder, bringing Ember's head up to his. A moment of twin telepathy and Aven was pushing to his feet, followed by Ember.

"I think we're off to bed. Are you going too.."

Using his wand, Severus extinguished the flames with a glance at Aven and pushed to his feet, cracking his knees and back before shuffling off to the magically extended tent. Aven ended up sleeping on the couch that night of the multi-bed, multi-room in one extension as he insisted he wasn't too tired and sat down to read. Severus and Ember took their own spots on the cots on either side the of tent placing the table between them.

Once the tent occupants fell to silence and the horses outside had long since drift off, the moment before falling asleep, Severus glanced over to Ember and studied her sleeping form through the legs of the table. She lay sleeping facing him, curled up in fetal position with her blanket wrapped tightly in her fist that hugged up under her chin as her cheek skunk deeply in the comfortable pillow. Smirking to himself, Severus looked up at the bunk above him and closed his eyes, allowing himself to drift off to sleep with a rare sense of peace as the family around him slept soundly.

....

 

Severus slipped from his cot, and past the still sleeping twins who stayed the night in their locations. Ember was wrapped warmly in her blankets against the chill that swept through the tent, and then he noticed Aven's feet hanging over the armrest as he came up towards the couch. While avoiding landing his eyes on Aven, who would always wake up immediately even if he didn't show it, Severus pulled on his robe and slipped out the flap doors quickly hunching his shoulders to the chilly morning.

The sun was not yet out, and Severus looked over and up to see Fawkes watching him from a tree branch high above, clearly still wanting sleep, but loyal to what Severus wanted. Motioning with his hand for the bird to stay, he stepped over thin twigs that would crack loudly, and lead the horses to feed on the grass spot by their campsite that led to the road. Securing the leadropes, Severus left the horses to graze and moved back to the fire circle, using his wand to ignite warm flames. Severus took a few more slow minutes to feed the fire as well as hang the kettle before landing hard on the ground with his one foot bent inwards, while one leg sat foot flat and his knee raised. He listened to the morning forest around him, and felt for anything or anyone awake and undetected.

Taking a breath and not removing his eyes on the low fire, Severus slipped his hand in his robes and pulled out the still sealed envelops that had come with the Phoenix. He hadn't even acknowledged them yet, and had only placed them in his inner pocket and tried to forget they existed. But this morning when he rolled his robe over his shoulders the letters landed against his chest, he felt a burning that could have been reasoned as both magic and his paranoia. Lowering his eyes, he noticed the first letter looked about the size and shape of a students Hogwarts letter. It had a maroon seal with a lion on the wax, and he skipped over it without allowing a thought, feeling it more personal then he was ready for.

The next one was more of a pouch then an envelope. Ripping it open from the side Severus tilted the contents out of the padded inside and watched as two small vials, one empty and one with a scroll inside. Next was a compass, a round magnet smaller than his palm, and finally, a tiny, silver snake charm that dropped into his hand.

His brow furrowed as he slipped everything back and switched back to the standard looking envelope sealed with the lion's crest. Flipping over to the front, Severus scanned Minerva's handwritten sender's address and took a breath as he flipped the note again to the back.

Sliding his middle finger into the slit of the paper, Severus broke the seal and slipped the parchment from its holding.

_To whom it may concern,_

_You have called upon the Phoenix belonging to the Hogwarts grounds, Fawkes. For reasons unannounced to myself, Headmistress Minerva Mcgonagall, you have superseded my position and have requested his assistance to which he has chosen to act on._

_In short, I have allowed whomever has such ability and need to use the Phoenix as he or she will. Please note, The bird is trained to come back to the castle, and will always be more then willing to guide you to safety or help if you were to only request it._

_Good luck in your journeys, and please take care of my bird._

_Hopeful,_

_Headmistress Minerva_ Mcgonagall _,_

_The headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry._

Severus closed the note and slipped it back in the envelope. Raising his eyes to the trees lined before him, he noticed a stiff, painful twitch that came from under a muscle in the back of his neck, and he raised his hand to his neck to find the knot. But, as the scars on his fingers touched the scars on his neck, a violent feeling of nausea swept over him and brought Severus to choke on half swallowed bile. As he recovered, the loud noise of the tea kettle that hung over the firepit started squealing which only brought more quick movements as he tried to set himself back into relaxed silence.

Taking the kettle off the stove, Severus turned the holder away from the flame and allowed the steam to rise quietly before falling back against the log. He swore inwardly only to whip his neck as the sound of chuckling came suddenly from behind.

His scarred hands went back on his scarred throat as what would have been sickness suddenly succumb under the pain that ripped through his neck, shoulders, and spine. The pain felt like knives…. like fangs..ripping through the muscles and thin inner lining. He gasped as he tried to cool the sudden burn with harsh breath in.

"Oi. Relax, relax, mate.." Avens voice came a tad nerved as he comes up and over the sitting log, quickly taking his seat by Severus.

Allowing as much time as he needed in silence, Severus steadied his vision and loosened his pained throat, only helping further when Aven handed him a cup of cold tea. The twin nodded his head slowly as he watched his older friend come down from his jump.

"You alright then?" Aven asked.

 _"Yes."_   Severus pressed, tilting his head forward and allowing his hair to curtain his face as his knee pulled up towards him.

"What's been going on with your throat?"

Severus glanced back at Aven who looked over his shoulder at the tent before looking back.

"Just because you don't say anything, doesn't mean I don't see that something is going on."

Severus dropped his eyes to the ground,  _"I've been experiencing jolting pain."_

"Have you told Ember?"

_"Do I have to answer that?"_

"No. But you are burdened with the option whether or not she knows."

Severus looked at the crackling flames and twitched his lip.

"I will not tell her things for you, and if you do fancy her in any way, you understand she deserves the sort of gent who can speak for himself."

Ignoring the twins misplaced twin Severus sighed,  _"I understand."_

"Then it's buried. Moving on…"

The air would lighten between them as the two communicated of small events and memories until a respectful time where Ember pulled from her bed and shuffled out for a breakfast already almost finished.

That day and the few after, they would travel continuous and rapid through the mountainsides, their steeds stampeding through the lush green country scape and rocky mountain beaches. They traveled until the air got colder and colder and the sounds of gulls and crashing waves became their norm. The further they traveled, the more the sky continued to threaten a rain that did not fall and after almost a week of this travel, there came a point where Aven who had been riding out front, pulled back on his horse and stopped the group at the edge of the beachside cliff.

Deep grey clouds rumbled and flashed across the sky in a gathering a ways distance out into the ocean. The wind whipped the air around them and brought treacherous waves to smash into the many stone spikes that jut from the ocean. Out an unswimmable distance in the middle of it all, a huge stone pillar sticks up from the deadly crashing waves, it's jagged rocks making up the edges that thinned the closer to the ocean it got. The spine of stone was topped in a flat surface that when the lightning flashed, shadows of hundreds of birds were seen flying in independent destinations and paths against the clouds.

"Merlin, Severus. Just kill us now why don't, ya." Aven half grumbled as the two came up on either side of him.

"Severus?" Sighing in awe, Ember shift her hands on the reigns uncomfortably. "How do you intend on getting us near there?"

Fawkes came down from above and landed gracefully on Severus's shoulder and without taking his eyes away from the aisle, Severus sent a message of small things to the Phoenix who took flight and went off alone over the sea.

_"Now, we wait."_


	15. Ellipsism

**The End of What Never Was**

 

 

_Ellipsism_

_Noun._

_Sadness that you'll never be able to know how history will turn out._

 

**Hermione Granger**

Hermione Granger sits alone at the dinner table of a very nice restaurant she shouldn't have been alone at.

It was their anniversary. Her and Ronald. But overall, she just wished she hadn't been so ready for him not to show up. She'd rather feel hurt because she'd rather be feeling something right now. She hadn't invited Harry and Ginny, she hadn't invited anyone because she knew she'd be here and would have rather been here alone, away from the pity and sadness of how they would look at her.

She didn't know where he was but didn't care. She ate her dinner and did her best to act like she was there alone intentionally but there would a person she wouldn't have been able to hide anything from.

"Granger."

The voice would always bring a shiver to her, but the son was far easier and warmer than the father. She looks up from her plate and smiles at Draco.

"Mister, Malfoy."

"That's my dad." He corrects stiffy.

"Also, you."

Draco suddenly looked quite awkward in the stance that hadn't changed but somehow he looked weaker and less dismissive.

He touched the back of the chair, "May I?"

"Sure." She smiled, pushing away the smile that she had a hard time controlling when she thought of how Ron would act if he walked in in the next however long Draco would sit.

Her, with Draco Malfoy. She almost laughed but expressed herself with a smile.

"What?" He asked, pausing.

"Nothing."

She'd offer him some of the wine she had for her and Ron and when he accepted she allowed him to take and fill his own glass. She was trying to remain submissive for whatever reason she couldn't explain. Maybe it had been all the years of her being punished for her parents, she didn't know.

"This isn't a table placed for one." He'd comment off handily from behind his glass.

"What do you mean?"

"Why would you let another man sit here?"

"If you're referring to Ronald," A white toothy grin that reminded her of Najini spread across his face. "How do you know I didn't ask for this seat?" She'd change her answer to a question.

"You did. But not for a meal alone."

She looked away uncomfortably and off to the side which landed her eyes on, coincidently, a pair of people clearly in love sitting together in a booth. She sighs and looks back to Draco to see him watching her, his smile gone.

"My apologies." He said quietly as he finished his glass, sounding not so much like his father, but more like his mother. Hermione nodded her forgiveness and he nodded back as he stood up.

"Unfortunately, I am here with others that I must return to. But, perhaps we'll see each other again when time holds no restrictions. Have a good night, Ms. Granger."

"Have a good night, Draco."

He'd look at her a moment longer but wouldn't correct what she called him. He'd just stare, give a nod and walk away from her, leaving with a small smile. She'd tell herself not to look at him, and wouldn't. She also wouldn't order dessert, but would rather quickly finish her meal and request the check. She'd leave without seeing him again and on her way home thought of Ronald and how she knew what needed to be done.

Unfortunately, but not so surprisingly, Ronald was drunk. Completely sloshed and stumbling around the kitchen slurring his words so badly that even spells didn't understand him. She'd stand in the doorway and he wouldn't notice her. As she waited cross-armed, she weighed her thoughts a final time. She understood people get drunk. She understands people get sloshed. She understands that sometimes you forget events but she did not understand this. But, there was something different about this drunk. It was something that came off his skin. It was something that resonated in his humming, something he used to do when happy that she hadn't heard in years. It was the way his collar was adjusted, it was the way he swung his hips.

There was a message standing straight in front of her, and she wasn't the fool who would look away.

"Hello, dear." She smiled and Rons reaction wasn't any better when he jumped and spun towards her, clearly surprised and unexpecting.

"Hermione!" he exclaimed. "I thought you had that.. umm.. That thing tonight!"

"That thing?" She asked him.

"Yeah! That business thing I think it was. Dinner, and a late night."

"A business thing?" She raised her eyebrows, forcing herself to come across as sarcastic but in actuality, she was holding back tears of pain and hurt.

"I think you mean our anniversary."

"No." He laughed loudly, "That's next month."

"No, Ronald. It's today."

She didn't hear what he said next, she was bound to her room to gather her things and leave but it was the grabbing of her arm that startled her most.

"No!" He ordered and she slid her feet together, pulling back her arm sharply.

"No?" She looked up the stairs, her heart falling into her stomach.

"Just.... Why don't we just talk for a minute, Mione'?"

Her eyes were welling up but she wouldn't let him see her cry so she turned, and without even seeing who, she left the house for anywhere else.

..

Where she would find herself would be at no other than the House of Black.

She didn't want to go home to her parents and she didn't want to be alone. As bad as she felt for thinking it, she also didn't want to be around Harry and Ginny. She thought about writing Luna, or another of her old school friends. No one from work though... She promised herself that as she sat at the dirty kitchen table.

Remus lived here full time now and she must have walked into something she didn't know because he wasn't the only one in the house. Minerva was there along with Kingsly, as was Mrs. Weasley and lastly, oddly enough, Narcissa Malfoy stood among them. Hermione wouldn't have said anything, but they stopped talking and looked at her as she passed the open threshold of the living room where they stood.

"I'm going to get something to eat and I'm going to bed." She assured with the strongest voice she could muster. But her sadness was overwhelming and she knows they know she is hurting.

She was in such a tussle that she didn't even think about Narcissa until she sat at the kitchen table waiting for a bowl of stew to finish warming, but once the realization hit her she was up out of the seat and walking back into the living room. She didn't know what to say but she knew she was of the Order and that anything that was happening, she was allowed to ask about now.

As she walks down the hall she hears mumbles, but there were a few words she caught clearly.

"Severus." "Snape." "Fawks."

She steps into view and falls again under the eyes of the small group.

"Hello." She says, and a small echo of hellos is passed.

It wasn't too odd that Narcissa was here, but it was. Narcissa was originally a Black before she was a Malfoy and when Hermione thought about it, she reasoned that she had as much right to be here as anyone else. But why hadn't she before this?

"Mrs. Malfoy." She says with soft voice and a smooth head nod.

"Ms. Granger."

Yup, the tone Draco had used earlier very much resembled his mother. She smiles at Narcissa who gives a small sort of smile back.

"Can I ask what's going on?"

"We were just telling Narcissa..." Minerva fiddled with her sleeve, the old woman passing a look between the standing few, "Of that night Severus came to the Burrow."

"And I was just letting everyone know he had also shown up at his old house a week ago," Narcissa explained, speaking to Hermione as if she were just another one of the older adults.

"I saw him in London." She put out and eyes widened.

"What?!" Remus bit.

"It was before he came to The Burrow." Hermione quickly realized what she said grabbed far more attention than she expected. "Maybe a month before that night. I chased him to an alley." She looked off and thought, "He was with a woman.."

"A woman?" Narcissa asked.

"I don't know her name."

"Are her eyes like candles of fire?" Kinsgley asked.

Hermione nodded. "She said she saved him."

"Her name is, Ember Fields," Narcissa explained. "Her and her twin brother, Aven went to school with us."

"Oh.." She looked around. "I didn't see her brother."

"He was there." Narcissa smiled, and a wave of the understanding was passed.

Minerva stood looking as if she had things to say that she wouldn't and was having a hard time keeping back.

"What is it?" She asked.

"We're just discussing it."

Hermione looked back at Narcissa. "Your husband... I saw him in the depart files." Her voice lulled out.

"Lucius?" Narcissa said her husbands name as if Hermione didn't know who her husband was.

"Yeah. I'm.." She stumbled. "I'm not saying the names are connected but... Last I checked, Professor Snape's files are gone."

Narcissa bit her cheek, "I didn't know he knew."

"I don't think he knows," Hermione assured awkwardly.

Narcissa shook her head. "He knows. Just, no one else has told them they know too." She looked at Minerva who nodded her head.

"He wouldn't talk to us." Arther looked at Narcissa.

"Nor I." Narcissa nodded her head.

"Ember.." Hermione used the name for the first time, "she said he can't."

"That was said that to me as well." Naricssa would add on quietly.

"Do you know anything more about that?" Arther asked.

"No." Both women shook her head. "Just..." Hermione picked up. "He's only been out a few times before I saw him. So, he's just getting on his feet."

"And he's gone already." Narcissa sighed.

The room is quiet for a long time, quite long enough for Hermione to feel the sadness creeping back over her shoulders.

"Well, he said he'd be back." She, of all people, pushed out a sudden, strong promising voice. "And if he did it before, he'll do again."

* * *

**Nymphadora Tonks**

Nymphadora Tonks sits alone in her flat late, late into the night. She's looking at photographs that are strone out on the wooden kitchen table before her. She looks at each one while taking sips from her steaming teacup and munching on some toast and jam. Warmed in the low candlelight, she looks over the scattered pictures of times when things were good and easy. Hogwarts. Summer nights. Family and friends….

Friends…..

Her eyes landed on a few scattered grouping that all included a paled man with shoulder-length black hair and a cold expression.

They had been friends in school, Severus and her, and she had kept in contact over the years before his missing. As Severus joined the Order, they began to get close which was when she professed a liking for man one night where he pushed her off and told her to go lay with her wolf.

To Remus....

She holds a photo in her hands now. A photo she holds the edges of with her fingertips in one hand as she takes another sip of her tea with the other. A photo by the Hogwarts lake. She's smiling and her hand up as if she were pumping her fist to someone out of the shot. Severus, only in a button downs shirt and black pants stands on a log behind her, his hands in his pockets, his eyes cast outwards over her head like the vulture he always resembled. Behind them, the lake and the mounties span the scene as trees grow from patches of grass at the edge of the beach.

She loved this photo. It was one of her favorites.

She loved that man, she did, but right now it was too painful to see him. Teddy was lost to them, taken in a fight by wands and masks by those she would never truly know the identity of. And now, after her and Remus went their separate ways, the man she had crushed on in her youth had come back along with all the feelings she once held. A wave washed over her that night at the Burrow, A silence grasped her throat but a rope pulled her in. He was alive, a pain that chewed her every day since the empty funeral they had no right giving him. He had always been her outlet, not speaking much anyway, he was a good person to complain to when he was trapped in the same area. Not surprisingly, they had a similar sense of darker humor and Severus was always open for insulting Remus and the others when she was upset. Even if he didn't smile or laugh with the others, she caught his lips turn upwards as she made a reference to something that flew over the heads of many others. Sometimes Magic. Sometimes muggle. Severus silently caught many of her references and quotes, her long ago lyrics from years away from them. He seemed to know what she was all about and she wanted to know him just as well. Tonks was charmed by the mysterious, living shadow that seemed to know everything about her, while she and everyone, knew little to nothing about him.

Now, he was gone again. He said he would return, but would he? Would he make it? What happened to his voice? Each of the Order held their own understanding of why he came by and it had been discussed among the group since only once. But in a way, it hadn't made anything easier for anyone. Now some worried, Harry asked questions and those around whispered half rumors and sentences about the relationship she once pushed so hard for.

Taking a deep breath, Tonks drops the photo of the two of them on the table top and looks to the ceiling. She takes a deep breath that she tries to use to drown her stress. It was time for bed, she decided, lulling over the promised waiting that wasn't emotionally stabilizing. She would talk to Molly about this tomorrow, she didn't know why this was bothering her so much and wondered if she was the only one who felt that way.

 ...

**Severus Snape.**

That next morning was clear for the most part and Severus would be stirred away when the Phoenix let out a sharp coo and ruffles his feathers restlessly. Sitting up on his elbows, Severus watched the Fawks fly out the tent flaps in a smooth soaring motion. Sighing, he hears the wheeze in his breath but he'd go on ignore it and pull himself up and quickly dress alone in the tent. He'd eventually step outside to see Ember and Aven standing together at the cliff's edge, looking out at the treacherous storm that seemed to linger right over the pin like island; they looked quite stressed.

"Severus.."Ember said as she bit her lip. "This... This is starting to feel like a really bad idea."

Without a word he would tie a wrap around his and each of the sibling's wrist and then he ties a wrap around a leg of each of the three birds. With magic, he connects the two and instructs the fingers to grip around the ankle with the rise of the birds who would take off without an issue. They all held on with their talons with less trouble than as their human counterparts, and almost looked weightless as they flew easily against the storm that circled around the isle.

"Okay," Avens voice called over the wind after the first few minutes, "I'll admit Severus. This is pretty cool."

Ember laughed an excited laugh as she looked down past her toes at the stormy sea waves that break under her as the water turns blacker and blacker.  Her eyes followed up into the black clouds in the sky that circled the sky sitting isle. Phenoxies of many colors swooped around them as they broke into the clouds, none making contact but coming close in beautiful, and majestic control over the harsh winds. Hundreds of firelike angles moved in the lighting that flashes, their tails waving majestically behind them like trailing fire. The silhouettes were beautiful and the trip took about six minutes in total but eventually, the birds broke down through the clouds and it was quickly noticed that the closer to the isle top they came, the less and less the weather seemed to whip around them. As the birds lowered their passengers onto the long, lush green grass of the isletop, the three disconnected and stood in awe at the perfectly preserved, beautifully landscaped scene in front of them. Lit by the sun that shone through forever placed eye of the storm, winds were dull, and the air felt warm. Looking around, grass nests lay scattered like wildflowers in the deep grass, and Severus started off with the twins catching up quickly behind.

"What now?" Ember asked Severus as he looks around, passing many but stopping before one nest in particular. A nest that held a blue, gold etched egg. Slowly, he pulls out a knife as the twins examine quickly darkening clouds.

_"Go on."_  He pushes the bird softly with his mind as he takes another step closer, giving a sharp wave of his hand that didn't make the bird move. He did receive another snap and the bird gives a sharp hissing noise as it intended on defending it's egg. 

He can feel the eyes of the twins watching him before his mind is taken to the knife he flips in his fingers. 

"Severus, what are you doing?" Aven calls out as Severus lowers to his knees as the wind picks up enough to move his hair.

Without allowing a moment for an argument by either of the twins, Severus dragged the knife down his left-handed, opening a quickly spilling wound. Gritting his teeth, Severus lowered his hand in front of the bird and is rewarded by her lifting to her feet. With a deep breath, he pulls the egg from the nest and thrusts his hand before the bird who, with an angry screech that rattles the thunder rumbling sky, strikes his hand with its be. Bone breaks through bone and the ring and pinky violently rip the appendage from the knuckle as if ripping paper down the middle. A fire of pain envelopes his mind that screams a hellish noise, and what limited breath his throat allowed before this, was now taken away by the agonizing pain as he stumbled away.

"What the, hell!" Ember screamed as Severus tucked the egg under his arm and stumbled back to the group. 

"Severus!" Aven yelled over the rising storm but was ignored in full.

He needed to get to the medical kit. He needed to make it across the ocean. Nothing these twins had to say would expedite that. Everything else would only waste time and energy he didn't have. He took off with Fawkes and fought blood loss the entire trip but with every flap of Fawks' wings, he could feel the blood spill from his hand. He noticed Fawkes seemed weighed down in his return as he kept dipping and rising but eventually he'd land but not on his feet but on his knees. Quickly, the rest of his body refused his weight and he lay on his back, his breath pulling in all it could.  His world was nothing but burning pain that spun like him in his drunkest hours, but he was able to push himself ahead four more heavily, stumbling steps before hitting his knees for a final time. 

"Shit, shit, shit." The voice of Aven came not long after he fell again and two sets of hands to lift him from the spot and continue by pushing him up to his feet and moving him to the tent.

"Did he grab the egg?" He heard Ember's panic through his haze and he tightened his good hand on her shoulder.

"I don't know, I didn't see it."

When he felt his body finally drop into a cushy chair somewhere inside a cone of warmth, a small, death drunk smile stretched his face slowly as his bleeding hand dipped into his robe where not a moment later, he pulled out the shining blue egg with the gold cracked looking lining.  

.


	16. Apomakrysmenophobia

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

_Apomakrysmenophobia_

_n._

_The fear that your connections with people are ultimately shallow, that although your relationships feel congenial at the time, an audit of your life would produce an emotional safety deposit box of low-interest holdings and uninvested windfall profits, which will indicate you were never really at risk of joy, sacrifice or loss._

 

 

Eventually, Severus will wake and will find himself back at the farmhouse they had left only a few days ago. No longer in the tent, but in the same bed he'd woken from unconsciousness many times before and like those many times, he will repeat his steps. First, he looks towards the window he'd habitually check during his healing and looked toward now for the same reason. The sun was setting and that was all he knew of the day. He doesn't know how many days it's been, he doesn't know how many mornings he missed. He closes his eyes and rubs his forehead as he tries to remember as far back as he could. He would lay where he was and would settle himself before making his next move. His anxiety was raising, but, with his eyes closed and a deep breath he'd started with his thumb. He wiggles the thumb on the left hand, then the index with a held breath. His middle finger is painful and he can feel the tight and raw skin with every flex and bend. He then tries for his ring finger and nearly vomits when he feels the twitch of only his knuckle.

_"Fuck."_

He doesn't make it to his pinky but he'll dare himself a look at his hand by lifting it instead of moving his sore neck. The knuckles are wrapped with clear white gauze that holds a fresh feel and moves down to his wrist. Little dots of red marked where his fingers used to be, but that's about it. His fingers that are exposed are thin and red which was better than swollen and black. His wrist is moveable, and he appears to have all function on top of blissful numbness. The pain is very low and he feels woozy but knows its from the concoction of perfected drugs that were perfectly administered. He feels good. Too good for the situation... so  _good_ that he's obviously being driven by a high. 

His happiest place to be. 

He'll rise from his bed and pull his legs over the edge. His throat still hurt but hurts less than the other day and he notices quickly his breathing comes easier now. He touches his veins and feels that there have been injections made in his absence. He'll move across the bedroom on sliding socked feet and eventually will go downstairs where he'll find Aven first in the kitchen. The man looks up but doesn't say anything, just waves his hand listlessly and starts into the living room where Ember is sitting on her knees before the brown skin flap that's covering the fireplace opening.

"Check this out." She whispers to him as he enters and moves out of his way

Behind the skin is the egg that's sitting in a perfect nest, in perfectly hot coals inside of a perfectly kept hot brick space. The egg looks healthy, bright, and very much alive which is a relief he feels immediately. 

"Hows your hand?" she asks him as she eyes the damaged work that he hangs limply at his side.

_"As always, your work supersedes any expectation."_

"No pain then?" She asks with a smile to which he shakes his head no, his eyes keeping on the egg but not for much longer because the heat would escape which would compromise the entire point behind his loss.

He pulls back and lands on his backside with his spine resting against the base of the couch.

"What about your throat?"

Avens voice had slithered into the content feel of the room and would drop his lips from the small smirk he had and tighten his jaw.

"I did want to ask you about that," Ember said quietly as she pulled herself up onto the mantle-side armchair. 

"We did  _see_ it..." Aven now mimicked his slithering voice as he moved into the room, his sharp sallow glare watching the man on the floor with a flinch-worthy heat. 

It was said that Severus was nothing like that of Aven while being so much like the younger man but not in a way where Aven learned from him. Severus was molded from abuse and neglect, while the twin brother was built of sacrifice and the blackest of magic. Darkness was literally apart of the twin and there is something from birthright that can never be equated to through passed traumas.  Severus stared at the fireplace as Aven stood staring at him. Severus was no longer the shadow everyone had seen him as years and years ago because the hovering mass of blackness that stood behind the couch was something far more than his fire lit form. Severus's shoulders tightened, Aeven's eyes narrowed. Even now, Severus would never equate his own darkness to that of the weight the twin carried with him naturally.   

_"What was seen?"_

He doesn't look at  Aven, he looks at Ember though both can hear him **.**

She shrugged. "Infection."

He looked away from her and back to the skin that hung over the mantle, his eyes watching the flickering that escaped from its edges. When nothing came, he shrugged and then nodded his head. 

"You should have told me."

_"Aven knew."_

She didn't know this and thus the attention was passed to the older brother who could look no less pale than he already did. There was no emotional change, no switching of weight. Nothing. Aven just stood as a stiff, still shadow whose breathing was slow and only seen on the sides of his shoulders and the occasional throat twitch. 

"It was clear. I left it to him." Severus can hear the man's voice move with his attention; from Severus to his sister. "That was the deal, no? That when Severus could rise on his own we were no longer his informants...If he wanted to let you know, he would have.. But...." The stare is back on the shoulders of Severus, a small, dark smirk playing on his lips. "He didn't."

"Severus,-"

Always quick to anger he did not like these passing games so he stands up and looks between the two who are watching him with different stares. 

_"We have the egg, but I am no professional in this. I need to find where I stand in  this world because I am again standing."_ He shoots a glare at Aven.  _"I have also decided to go alone. It will be for one night, I will send correspondence as soon as I'm finished here."_

Dismissive, short, ill-tempered. Severus was still Severus and when he turned into the man he stood as now, there would be no arguing with him.

"Okay, but your throat?"

_"The next step... Or this,"_ He holds up his broken and battered hand, _"will have been for nothing. I thank you for your continued aid as I always do.. But... I am-"_

"Leaving again." Aven finishes and goes to turn away.

_'I have brought you_ every time _."_ His voice pushes through his mind.

"Who are you seeing?" Ember asked to which Severus would respond without a missed beat. 

_"Tonks,"_ He projects in the least stressed out way he can pull up as he starts into the kitchen.

"Tonks?" Avens huff came from the kitchen threshold where they all had followed him too, which for Aven was nothing much but a simple turn and a few steps. He had huffed a laugh though his face didn't follow suit, but his eyes would pass towards his sister as Severus pulled out the nearest kitchen table chair and sat down.

"Was that the one you had that fling with?" He pushes on. "The one who changes?" The brother continued as he swirled his finger around his hair.

" _Metamorphmagi."_ Severus thought aloud, eyes locked with Aven while actively ignoring the feeling of Embers eyes holding over to him.

"Why her?" her question well expected.

" _She's neutral ground within the Order_ _."_

"Mhm," Ember pushed off the bench as Severus magiced a parchment and quill set over. He's say nothing while he wrote, and they'd say nothing while they Tying the note to the Fawkes's foot, he sent the bird in the way of Hogwarts where Minerva would send the message on it's way to Tonks.

The ring finger was not there, nor was his pinky off the knuckle, but still he felt it just the same as he pushed the bird up and off his forearm. He'd watch the bird go, leaving him alone in the lush front field with the twins coming up behind him like a pair of hyenas. He couldn't explain it, but he wanted information of what he had missed in the life he left behind. He wanted to know what happened and although had gotten the Malfoy side of things, he can't help but wonder how the others were living as well. As a teacher, he thought about his students and wondered if anything he ever taught affected them and how they used what they knew. He wanted to see how Minerva was, he wanted to see the Burrow during the day. He needed to talk to Hagrid because he honestly, didn't know what he was doing with this egg. Maybe... just maybe Aven was right. Maybe the first step of freedom was also the first taste of something he wouldn't be able to handle. He wanted more than he did a few months ago... but he wasn't going to tell Aven he was right. 

His plan was this. He wanted to go alone to see, Tonks. He wanted to use what he could, without the threat of invasion or snaps from Ember. He wanted to talk to Tonks alone, and he wanted to talk about Remus. As he told the twins his intentions, he laced his thoughts in Slytherin tones, and maleish remarks. He wrapped the truth with plans of deception but he was not one to control these days, but he had never been one to tolerate jealous feelings of what she knew was hers. That night, Severus would see to Ember alone and would lace his fingers in her hair and bring her to stay behind without concern. He had made his promise to the Fields twins, and a lier such as Tonks would do little to sway his mind from his private flames.

...

"So, I'll see you when you get back." Ember nodded her goodbyes while her eyes glint as calm setting suns that next morning when Severus stepped out of the farmhouse.

Severus's knapsack hung over his right shoulder as a sullen blank look sat in his eyes. He pushed away from his magical normal as his appearance was at risk and he need not be noticed. He wore farm hand black pants that wore clean and fitting with a long black trench over a button up black shirt. His collar and hood were raised in standard fashion and his eyes glint from behind strands of black hair that hung in his face. Severus's hand had been amended to the point of movement and a light grasp. His missing fingers would stay wrapped with black gauze and he had intentions on keeping his amputation out of view the entirety of the visit.

" _I'm going to talk to Tonks where I can hopefully then talk to Hagrid about the Egg. If anything, he can get me a book from the library. Then, I shall return."_

"Okay." Ember smiled that was more for her than himself as he took another step towards the stairs.

"Going to rekindle some old love, eh mate?" Aven came around the farmer's porch and landed across from his quickly reddening sister.

_Is that what you would do?_ Severus's eyes flashed as he watched Aven's cliff pushing games play in his eyes and dark smile.

"Fuck yes I would!" Aven exclaimed with life and energy as he spread his arms, "I would check on my sister, then I would go take a tumble with my ex, Hannah." He laughed, but no one else would.

"Aven, your disgusting," Ember grumbled as she turned halfway around and sighed looking at the sky

" _I'll be back."_ Severus turned towards Ember, not allowing himself to get caught up in Avens picking.

"Yeah, no shite." Aven bit suddenly very angry, "reassure us of something a little less obvious."

He sighed, his jaw tightening _. "I won't bring anything .. or anyone back. I promise."_

His eyes were locked on Aven, but his words were meant for Ember. While games of the female psyche only irritated him, he said what he said for everyone and allowed it to be interpreted as they would. Severus took steps back away from the two twins and nodded his head.

"Horseback or broom?" Aven called out to the rising wind.

Without a message further, Severus popped from the spot, leaving the twins alone with Aven landing his arm around his sister's shoulder.

....

The sky was grey as the concrete, and the wind was a warm chill that created ghostly shivers.

Stalling outside the stoop of the home, whose address was written in pink ink on the slip of parchment he held in his good hand, his black eyes narrowed on the final ink dot that looked oddly like a heart. Crumpling the paper, he shoved it into his inside robe pocket and pushed on. The staff always passed emergency information around between each other, and the Order did so as well. After one meeting, in the beginning, the time Tonks had professed an admiration after a moment of heated breaths passed between them. He had turned his head from her lips and pushed her body away from his. It was then she slipped him her address, which wasn't where he stood now, as the address she responded with that came in last night was updated since the war. Loyalty was something he was never good at. He used his darkness to charm, to seduce and to please when the time arose for him. Unfortunately, Tonks seemed to be the same as him in this instance, only weaker. He was aware Tonks once held feelings, and now since his return, Severus was aware of a sudden meeting could turn her mind to see things his way. He would allow Tonks to think what she would and act how she pleased but, he promised himself easily that the next time the two would see each other, Ember would be on his arm and his mood cold and outright.

Looking up at the door, he took a breath and came around the side of the stoop and stepped up the stairs.

Knocking against the wood, he held his breath as the turns of locks clicked and then the door opened to that of Tonks who crossed her arms and leaned against the threshold. She wore her face stern but her eyes gave away all she tried hiding.

"So.... You said you'd be back." She said in a breath as her eyes scanned his form up and down before stepping from the doorway.

" _A moment?"_

Severus watched with cold eyes and a stern face as Tonks's finger went in her ear and her hair turned bright red as she heard his voice in her mind for the first time. To him it seemed like at that moment, it all became real for her. His voice, his presence, each breath that raised his chest. He stepped back through the threshold and waved him inside.

"Come in, come in." Her voice cool as her attempts to remain calm paid off bringing him to smirk with a sarcastic mask.

He bowed his back in silent respects before stepping into her quiet home for the first time. He looked around at the grey-backed by black striped wallpaper on the walls that fell into deep wooden panels that ran to the dark wooden floor. Tonk's home was much more muggle era. Some of the framed pictures in the long hallway did not move and he heard muffled noises as a running television came from the living room just out of view. 

"Would you like anything to drink?" Tonks tried, closing the door and slipping past his still, stone-like form.

"Severus?" She tried again halfway down the hall when he didn't acknowledge or communicate. She turned around to look at him, only for her heart to skip as she watched him standing there, looking at the pictures of the past that hung on the wall.

"What is it?" Her voice fell to a quiet melancholy.

" _What's happened?"_

Tonks eyebrows raised sadly as she realized just how much the man had missed.

"Oh, Severus."

That night they sat across from each other at the kitchen table, Tonks going through the timeline of the last three years as Severus silently sat the entire span, listening and taking everything in.

" _And Remus?"_ Here he looked up, and his eyes met those of a distressed looking woman with navy blue long hair.

"Oh, I don't know!" She exclaimed sitting back in the chair, finding her heartbreaking before the figure that had haunted her dreams. "I just…"

That was all Tonks could force out before tears fell from her eyes.

" _I apologize."_ Severus sent more for her then himself. He didn't agree with the path this was going and was feeling more cornered as hints came to him having to contact the werewolf himself.

"Why are you here?" She asked wiping the final tear away.

" _I need to get into communication with Lupin. I was wondering -"_

" 45 Ilithis Street. Old London. I can't help you, I can't get into contact or see him right now. That's his address. Just… Do what you will with it."

" _45 Ilithis Street."_

Severus rose from the chair and slipped himself around the table, landing behind her and with a hand on her shoulder a moment after. It was a quiet time of sniffling that passed and he gave her arm a squeeze before stepping away as new tears started dripping from the women's eyes. He slipped his fingers from her shoulder and broke the connection as he started on his way out.

"Why?" Tonks asked sadly.

" _Because I must."_

Tonks chose to keep her back to him and wiped tears and blue hair from her face as she listened to his fading footsteps.

"Come back, won't you?" She called as she heard the door crack open.

_"I'm not going far."_

He left her home and left Tonks still at the kitchen table crying. She was deeply affected by the past but emotions and unselfish connections were something he had never been good at. Exhausted, though not showing a sign, he ran the address repeatedly and popped from the street over knowing he can not finish the day with one contact.

......

...

 

"So. Severus." Remus said tapping his fingers on the wooden tabletop as he looked across the table at the disgruntled looking man who sat slouched in the matching kitchen chair.

Remus had arrived at his home in time to find Severus turning from the door after getting no response from the empty house. He was so tired these days, so….. old. The war had taken him at much cost and as Remus sat across from the man he wished was dead instead of all his friends, he felt a burn begin to rise.

"Okay. Severus. I have given you tea, we have sat here for, " Remus checked his pocket watch, "twenty- five minutes in silence. You need to give me some sort of idea why you're here or at very least answer my questions."

Oddly enough, Severus responded with nothing and Remus adjusted his seat awkwardly before starting.

"Are you really alive?"

The look that flashed through Severus's eyes at that moment was sharp and hollow like a syringe. But, there was an understanding. Magic is fickle and secretive, it could take the form of anyone, and the fact Severus had hardly spoken was chipping Remus's belief.

" _Yes."_

Severus knew the message was heard by the familiar uncomfortable look that faces made during their first-time interactions with him. Severus went to drop his eyes again as Remus looked back at him

"Who or how?"

" _Aven and Ember Fields."_

"Severus -"

" _I need your assistance to revive my voice."_

The room fell to a heavy silence in which Remus understood. He understood the silence that hid a groveling question.

"How?"

" _I need,"_ The connection cut off and Severus fought his damaging pride under the werewolves eyes.

Silence fell into the room, a silence in which Remus stared at the black haired man long hated, who only looked up when a rustle was heard and image of Remus pulling a medical purse from his pocket and opening to retrieve a needle that did pull attention. By now Remus had seen Snapes attention and the men held unfriendly eyes as Remus pulled up his sleeve and slid the point into his the notch of his elbow. Severus looked away as Remus gave a smirk and pulled the plunger filling the holder with blood.

"Is this what you came here for, Severus?" Remus asked as he pulled out the point and pushed the blood into a vial which was quickly capped.

Severus extended his good hand to grab the vial that was extended to him, only to have Remus pull it away and open his mouth as Severus fell back into the chair angrily.

"What about me, Severus?" Remus asked with a hint of venom in his voice.

Severus glared angrily from a shadow cast face as his hair broke his expression and he gave a sharp x-hale from his nose and tilted his eyes upwards.

"I want to see your other hand."

Severus raised his head in angry confusion as Remus extended the vial slowly into the man's reach..

"Your other hand, Severus." Remus pushed softly after a moment.

It was a heavy moment of thick tension that Severus would sigh away. Both men knew it and Remus watched his lifelong enemy the entire time as the man watched a ball of lint roll across the wooden kitchen floor as he debated in his mind. With a sharp shake of his head, Severus pulled his bad hand from under the table and extended his wrist past his sleeve cuff. Still wrapped in black gauze which picked up the light of the low flickering candles, Remus's eyes widened as Severus grabbed the vial with his three remaining fingers.

"Is that from the war?" Remus asked as Severus slipped the vial into his robes and his bum hand back under the table.

Shaking his head no, Severus rose from the seat and looked around the small apartment irritably before turning around to walk out the kitchen and towards the front door.

Severus had just crossed the kitchen threshold when Remus's voice picked up, "So even after this is over and gone with, you continue to be a complete git?"

Severus wouldn't stop his stride. He was a damned man, a forsaken man. A man who murdered and let murderers kill and torture. Now he did what little he could, to give what he had back. He wasn't a hero. Not him. And he'd leave on that note not allowing for another comment to be said.

Remus wouldn't rise from the kitchen table until much later that night and when he did, he would lay awake in his bed looking at the canopy thinking of Severus and how a part of him hoped the man wouldn't return in whatever travel he'd take next.


	17. Chapter 17

**If I Could Just Take It All Away.**

_Saudade – Portuguese_

_The feeling of intense longing for a person or place you love but is now lost. A haunting desire for what is gone._

 

 

The ticking clock was the only sound to be heard in the office of, Draco Malfoy. He was sitting on one side of work desk, catching himself when he started to guppie mouth as he tried to pull up words to the women who sat in front of him. It was so unreal, having her in his office, right now, on respectful grounds. If his father knew...

Draco shook away the thought and looked up at the smirk hiding Hermione for the fourth time since she arrived.

"Draco?"

"What?" His response was fast and harder then what he wanted to give, and he fell back into the seat blank-faced as he saw that he had pushed her away and into her own chair. Taking a breath and closing his eyes, Draco opened his mouth and started anyway he would.

"How are you?"

The question. Awkward. The response was a warm smile from the women who adjusted her seat straighter and cocked her head slightly at him.

"I've been good. And you?"

Her voice was calm and held warmth, making it clear she knew that what kept him silent was not hate but simple and crippling, anxiety. The same silencing mute that had come over her times before now stretched from her school year abuser and Hermione found it hard to keep the tips of her mouth down as he seemed so out of place now. Hermione couldn't blame him and for whatever reason, she didn't hate him. All those years of hateful things, but those things were different now. He didn't make fun of her, he didn't glare, and instead, for the first time, he had looked at her and simply asked how she was.

"I have a question." Draco continued, the warmth Hermione created now bringing the tension down.

Where she would play mock and point out that's what he had said before, she drew reason and understanding and only shook her head yes. Draco sat sweating in his suit and he was so sure she could feel his stress and hear his heartbeat. At that moment, the topic was far beyond logic and Draco pulled another breath in and opened his eyes and looked into hers.

"Is, Severus Snape alive?"

She told him everything in the moments of breaking she gave up. No words, but it all screamed behind her skin and eyes as she sat frozen watching him. She knew, and Draco felt his throat tighten.

"Draco.." Her voice was soft, in a kind of way that told him that she knew he had seen enough, "he is."

Draco wiped his hand down his face as he fell back into the chair, his eyes turning away and at the ceiling. Hermione stayed quiet until the step of anger set in and Draco's steel eyes found their way back to her.

"How do you know?" His voice was back to hard and walled, and then it was Hermione's turn for her heart to beat from her chest as she held down thoughts of the Order.

"I had followed him in London. It was a chance meeting."

It was the truth and enough to sustain the young blond man whose emotions fought his stone-walled exterior.

"Have…. have you spoke with him?"

Draco did love Severus. He loved him in the ways of the family, how he was always there the entirety of Draco's life and held him the day of his birth. Acting as the rule-breaking uncle, Severus pushed his father's boundaries right away, earning a respect and solace in the dark, brooding young man. The mentor's death had been heartbreaking, but as Draco sat now in his high back Ministry chair, he found relief wash over him. He never really believed Severus was dead and figured that was because he never saw a body he just hung onto the memory to deeply. But all this time he .. knew... Draco knew his uncle and teacher lived on.

"I knew it." Draco whispered to the room.

"What?" Hermione asked figuring her own assumptions.

"That he wasn't dead…" Draco's eyes rose clear again a smirk breaking his lips. "you know...Granger... Mum and Dad…. They have his name tattooed on them?" A sort of huffed laughed came from Draco as his arms landed on the armrests.

"Do you?"

Hermione's question lowered the smile but did not fully break the energy around them now.

"Yes."

Draco was up and around the desk. He placed in front of Hermione and his back against the wooden lip. Crossing at the ankle, Draco unbuttoned his sleeve and pulled up the fabric exposing his left forearm.

A tattoo of a blackened crow, head pointed up to the wings that touched over its head, marked up past his elbow with the words  _SS_   _9/1/60_  –  _2/5/98_ carved and bleeding from its chest. Below, its talons wrapped around the top lines of The Dark Mark, the lasting scar now tattooed over as a light smokey outline.

"Why did you keep it?" Hermione asked, referring to the dark mark as she leaned forward to look at the expert work of the crow.

"Because I never want to forget that I was apart of it."

The words had Hermione's eyes raise and body sit back. Covering his arm, Draco moved off the desk and back into his chair, all the while his fingers running over the tattoo as she imagined he had many times.

"I'm sorry for what I've said." The words he uttered then induced a silent shock from Hermione that brought Draco's eyes to her.

"You haven't said any-"

"I don't like you." He interrupted. "I think you're annoying and a know-it-all even when you don't know anything that's going on. We aren't friends. I never want to be alone with you again unless it's work. But..." His voice slows, "I am sorry for what I have done to you."

There were many things she wanted to say in the moments of silence that came with the end of his words. Some of it was related to their past. Some of it was related to their future. Some of it was just about Snape while the other part wanted to say sorry as well. She didn't know what she did that warranted an apology, maybe for punching him... But she looked him over once before lowering her head.

"For anything I did.. I'm sorry, too."

It wasn't about apologizing on her part and she knew Draco knew that. It was about creating an even ground which is where they were now. Shortly after that, Hermione Granger left Draco's office undetected, she didn't know if the event with Draco was over, she didn't know if that this was something good or bad. But inside she was relieved over Draco's private apology, and outside of Ginny and Luna, Hermione knew to tell no one of the encounters with the man who closed the office door behind her as she left.

 

* * *

  **Severus Snape.**

That night he had stayed in a muggle hostile in a dingier part of the city, mostly, if not all because those types of places never asked for ID to rent. It was a rather nasty little place with dull wallpaper, squeaky floorboards, bland paintings and people up at all hours, but he will have his own room and no one around him would even have the slightest idea of who he used to be. He signed in by printing words on a piece of white paper with a cheap pen that he'd passed back to the desk attendant who picked it up. She'd smile at him and continued on without mentioning his handicap. The room was simple. Third floor, top floor, behind the door of many latches and locks on the inside, there's a bed with blankets he probably won't sleep under, a desk by a white curtain window, and heater like the one he remembered was in his flat. There's a lavatory with a shower and tub that looked a tad grimy and a basic kitchen and table set up in the far corner but another window that shows the streets below. He'd go out to eat that night. One of those muggle fast food joints where the people stand behind tall counters and never remember one times faces, nor would they say anything if asked. He'd eat alone that night out of a styrofoam plate and watch a stupid television show he didn't understand because he hadn't seen the first half of the season. Eventually, he'd be tired enough to drug himself to sleep. That night, even though he's drowned in magical sleeping aids, Severus tossed in his bed on the top floor of the inn. His dreams had struck again, those nightmares he hadn't dreamed in years. Dreams of screams and spilling blood. He saw the eyes of the freshly dead and those who twist in pain and torture. That very early morning, Severus Snape shot up in the bed with all the chaos of his past running in his mind. Waking from sleep with a start and choking on a spit/vomit mixture, Severus turned off the side of the bed and released his stomach bail onto the floor. A normal response to broken sleeping aids and panicked nightmares. His panic drove him from the mattress and spinning around in the dark shadowed room with his wand exposed.

"My, Brother......"

His back aligned instantly and his breath catches in his chest as the dripping venom slips off perfect teeth and out of the mouth of the familiar voice that whispered to him from the shadows. Lucius Malfoy steps from the darkness and slowly comes up behind the frozen man.

 _"Lucius."_ His voice would carry through the air.

Eyes closed, Severus listened to Lucius feet freeze which is when he turned and looked at his best mate and one of his longest friends. The blond had aged a bit and both fought a falling composure as they approached cautiously before embracing tightly. Lucius wore a black button vest over a silk grey long sleeve shirt with the band on either sleeve and cuffs closed and pinned. His pants hung as business attire and were held by a black belt with a silver clip. Severus, on the other hand, stood barefoot on the cold wooden floor, loose hanging pants over curling toes and a standard night shirt warming him from the rooms chill. Stepping back, his scars glowed obvious in the light of the moon and he was quick to place his wrapped hand out of the view of Lucius who was successfully distracted by his throat. Upon waking at the farmhouse, it was Lucius Severus wanted to see the most. Narcissa yes, but Lucius was different. They shared something the rest did not. A sense of never living up to their name, a plague cast from abusive fathers who were constant in lives and remained as scars. Lucius was different from Narcissa as he didn't do emotions well like him, but still, points got across and strengths were given when needed. Lucius was the closest thing he had ever had to an older brother. One who had been there through everything and stood before him now uncalled for. Lucius' arms held for a longer time than Severus did, but eventually and to no bother to Severus, Lucius pulled away and slipped his mask back into place.

"You didn't come see me." He said in a blank whispering tone.

_"I planned on it."_

"When?" Lucius asked in a harsh rush to the voice in his head.

_"Tomorrow.... Today."_

Severus watched Lucius's grey eyes as they scanned the scars continuously as Severus took a moment to think, trying hard to ignore the exposed feeling that blanketed him.

"I know. May I?"

Severus nodded to whatever Lucius meant to find the man's gloved fingers on his cheek, sliding under his jawline and tilting his head for the moon to illuminate the scars of his throat. Stepping closer, Lucius's eyes traced each moon white line against the man's moonlight skin. Some scars were thick, some thin. Somewhere jagged lines, somewhere straight. As his thumb traced the line that broke the man's lips, Lucius turned to glance at the other side for a less amount of time before moving on.

"So your voice is, -"

_"Gone."_

Lucius nodded solemnly as his fingertip ran a scar that sliced across Severus's Adam's apple.

"Where have you been?" Lucius's chin lifted as his hand dropped.

Nothing was answered and Lucius stepped forward, now pressing the man back with a dangerous look, wanting more information and bringing Severus to cast his eyes away.

"Who has aided you, Severus?" He asked again with a more stern voice.

Nothing. The two stood in silence as Lucius's hand fisted angerly.

"Tell me the truth, dear brother. Say it was Ember and Aven Fields who saved your life."

_"What say you if it were?"_

"It was they who saved you, then? They the ones who took you from the shack and took time to stitch and mend you?

_"Yes."_

Lucius back straightened and his face resets to pure cold.

"Then I believe your choice is made for you."

Here Severus forgot he could not speak, and his mouth opened in harsh objection and his throat pushed outward in muscle memory speech. But nothing came. Nothing came but a rapture of pain and throat tightening heard externally as a longer, scratchy grunt. He turned from Lucius to mask his pain as he pushed out hard breaths from a throat that had closed in objection. He placed a hand on the table when his vision spun just a little and he pushed down everything inside him as fast as he knew how. Putting back up his walls with his back to Lucius, just to find a black leather hand landing over his shoulder.

 _"Why…."_  Severus pushed his thoughts through a calming mind. _"Why are you still stung off petty bias and blood placement?"_

"Old ways should not be forgotten, brother."

_"Neither should the deeds of unselfish people who've known betrayal."_

The room fell to silence as fast as Lucius's hand dropped. The silence shrouded the room drenched in midnight moonbeams for a very long time before Severus's voice echoed in Lucius's ears again as he turned to face the blond again.

_"Who told you?"_

"No one."

_"Then how?"_

Severus had recovered by now, his throat just a tolerable burn but he pushed that pain into his eyes that he dug into Lucius.  Even in today's world, after all that had happened, the two remained their bullish ways but in that moment in the dimly lit, silence shrouded rented room, Severus felt that homely feeling he once pulled in from Lucius. Severus drops his heat and looks away.

"Events." Lucius finally hisses a sigh as he started his away from Severus and around the room. "Minerva avoids for three long years the signing of legal documentation of her Headmistress placement," He says this to Severus as he looks over the wooden desktop from which his body bled from the side of,  "but happily plays the part title and all none-the-less." Lucius moves on, glancing distastefully at a dark green and brown scenery painting that didn't move and was held by a fake, gold-coated wooden frame against the one color, pale blue, wallpapered wall. "Hermione Granger starts looking up files of people she doesn't know in the bowels of the Ministry, while all around this time, Fawks goes missing from the castle which suddenly is no big deal or sign." He moves on, his cane held in one hand, the other eventually pulling open one of the two buro doors to see nothing inside but Severus's one coat and some empty coat hangers. He closes the door. "Your wand has been in use again, but who keeps track of spells used from a wand of a man three years dead?" He gives a dark smirk. "My wife gets called to your flat twice in a month after 3 years of nothing and comes back to me each time red-eyed and reclusive to the event. I'm not an idiot, Brother." His eyes flash back to Severus. "I am not some slum drunk anymore." Lucius stops by the bedside table and lifts one of the four empty vials between two fingers, the exsact one he had used as medicine for his neck. "I felt you breathing the entire time you've been gone."

 _"So, now what?"_ Severus will project after a quiet moment.

Lucius said nothing, which was a surprise for the man of many plans with always a word to say. Severus expected Lucius to pull him like he always had. To try  and keep him away from the twins but instead, grey eyes dropped to the floorboards then around the room to everything but him.

_"Come now, Lucius. What grounds lay between us?"_

"I don't know."

Severus pauses. " _Are they in danger?"_

A tense moment passed before Lucius shook his head.

"No" His voice was quiet, "Not this time. Come to see me when you have the time." His voice rises, suddenly extremely dismissive and finalizing. "Tomorrow I am busy and can not break away which is why I came tonight. My advanced apologies for the unexpected intrusion."

Lucius would depart after that and Severus would end up sitting on the edge of his bed, eyes on his wrapped hand, his mind elsewhere in hopes of relief. Now, he would be forced to go to Minerva tomorrow to continue this plan... There weren't any more distractions to be used. He needed to talk to Hagrid but he knew the school year was in place and that it was going to be extremely difficult to sneak past the eyes of the all-seeing cat. He looks at his black bandage hand as a thought pops into his mind. Was this considered loosing,....? He lost his voice and now his fingers.... He gained his life, yes.... but he wasn't ready to go to Minerva like this... as he wasn't ready to go to Minerva without his voice. He wasn't ready to talk with her..as as of now couldn't.... With this meeting, Lucius had taken his excuse of escape with him, and Severus lay back down as his mind swam in fire and ice. Eventually, maybe hours later, he sun peaked over the landscape but his eyes were still open, and he was still awake.

That night, he had slept with the door locked and in the morning he'd leave the building forgetting to unlock it as he apparated out; starting his next journey without a change from his blank expression. He had thought a lot that night of so many things which most of still had no answer to. Would be going back to the Malfoys really be beneficial? Would coming back at all be beneficial and to whom would it help? Was it needed? Had they been better off with the healed wounds of loos. What if Ember found out... But, leaving the Malfoys life would mean he would be forced to cut connections to everyone else. He couldn't risk the secrets of halves. If he couldn't have Lucius and the rest of the family, he didn't want the Order either... But what if…

Maybe he truly was weak. Maybe he was a coward, but he wasn't ready to Minerva but could be..... The wave of Apparation swirls him but as soon as his feet touch the groud, he knows where he is and turns to meet the farm house he had left only a day ago. Maybe he was weak now... and maybe he had always been... But, he wasn't ready to do this alone, but knew it needed to get done. 

 


	18. Meetings of Hummingbird Wings

**Meetings of Hummingbird Wings**

 

 

**Severus**

Home.

A place Severus never really knew. Hogwarts was tainted, always had been in one way or another; his father's flat now his, even less so as memories hung and danced in the back of his mind of the childhood he wished wasn't his. But the farm.. The farm was different and he couldn't quite explain why. True, the day to night labor kept him busy and strong, but it was also a safe place, a quiet place, a place that had been very rare to him. His toes touched the forest line for a paused moment, and when he steps over the protection barrier what engulfed him was a warm and welcoming feeling. As he entered the field that surrounded the house, it didn't take long for Ember to be in his arms and for a smirking Aven to be making his normal snide remarks from the porch. Even he almost looked happy. It was an odd place owned by two very odd people, but it's a place and a family he found himself preferring to return to ever since his first chance.

"So?" Ember asked as she followed him up the porch.

Stopping with one foot higher than the other, Severus turned around to face Ember as he pulled the vial from his robes and held it for her view.

"Oh! That's great!" Ember sighed happily while Aven rolled his eyes. "Aven thought you'd fail."

"Not fail, sister." Aven huffed moving to the banister on the porch landing, "I merely couldn't picture our dear friend here asking his enemy for his blood."

" _I didn't have to ask."_

"Lucky, git," Aven growled as Snape passed the vial in front of the brothers face on his way into the house.

That night for dinner food was prepared by the hands and magic of Ember and the meal was rather quiet over a game of cards and booze. This wasn't strange because Severus hadn't been able to talk for a long time now and the twins both felt discomfort talking normally in front of the man who wasn't allowed to communicate all that much. A few things were said here and there, Severus's plans for the potion took on questions that didn't last long and eventually, the night would wrap up as would the games and drinks.

That night, he'd slithers his way into her room and into Embers bed where now is hwere he lay, on his back with his eyes cast upwards and Ember curled up in the crook of his arm. That night, as the blankets covered Ember to her chin but landed mid-chest on him, he felt her fingers slide up his thigh in what would be the first intimate touches they had shared since before the war had made trade for his life. His body adjusted at the waist as her fingers ran the lip of his pajama pants. After controlling his laboring breathing, he crooked his head to look down at her. She didn't move anything he could see, her eyes were closed but he'd feel her and his head would rest down upon the pillow as her fingers traced his more sensitive area's. He raised his right hand and landed his palm on the blanket and over her hand, pushing her touch into his groin. Here she moved. Her lips touched his chest and bare shoulders, and his body reacted stiffly to her leg slipping over his waist and with one slick motion. She moved to lay on top of him, deepening an intimate kiss as her body pushed against his. He kissed her back with a hunger that ripped through him like his fingers through her dark chocolate hair that he'd grip tightly and tug at random times where her movements touched him just right. That night he did not think of Aven or his repercussions for taking his sister. He did not think of the Order, he did not think of the Malfoys. He did not think of Hogwarts. He only thought of her on top of him, the warmth of her naked body and a heart so for it all.  When he did slip away from the room around him and from the women who lay naked at his side, his nightmares did not plague him and his dreams were running with no tainting of darkness because the warmth of her breath had touched his heart and had run through his system numbing him to the cold of his past..... He couldn't fall asleep and felt the reason why. 

Someone was thinking hard about him; someone far away who gave them a sense of sense of sadness.. His breathing paused and Severus closed his mind to the feeling, as his free arm lift and rubbed the outside of his throat.

.......

**Ember**

That morning the sounds of rain upon the glass window woke Ember to a world of warm blankets and the crackling of the nearby fireplace that warmed the room. When she rolled onto her back she was met with nothing and no one at her side where she had left Severus last night when she fell asleep. At some point, most likely before the break of day, Severus had slipped out as he always had, and went back to his own room before the wake of even the house elves. When she rolled onto her stomach and into his space, the pillows smelled of him and his sweat-stained her skin in ways that made her feel warm and hugged. When she rose she showered and took her time to feel the water wash him off her skin. After her hair was dried and styled to her fancy, her clothing was pulled on in the form of loose cargo pants that once belonged to Aven, a tight shirt that dropped over her belt that wrapped her waist and once towards the door, she shrugged on her dark purple and black, calf hanging robe with cuffed sleeves. To her forearm she holstered her wand and took a deep breath before opening her bedroom door for the first time that morning, now nearing afternoon and she stepped out to the world beyond her.

What she expected to be an empty kitchen but instead held her brother who was sitting at the kitchen table. 

"Have you been waiting for me?" She asked Aven as she entered the silent sitting kitchen.

"Eh." Aven sighed looking around the room clearly disgruntled.

"What's… what's going on?" She asked adjusting the robe on her shoulder as she came up behind her brother and dropped her hands over his shoulders.

"We need to talk about what's going to happen next."

"With, Severus?" She approached passively, accepted a cup of hot cocoa from a small house elf who was thanked by name.

"A few things.."

Evasive was something Aven was not unless he didn't want to talk about what he knew he had to do.

Ember came up behind her brother and looped her arm around his collarbone. "So.. What's going on?"

"Come." He got up but didn't leave fully from her touch that dipped down from his shoulders to his arm where she clung.

"There is a problem." Her brother sighed leading them into the living room and pushing open the swinging door. The room was simple, made and filled with wood. There's a wooden table between the fireplace and the brown couches and armchair sets sit off to the side. There's a desk, decoration, paintings and trinkets and as she looked around her found Severus, the solemn-looking man who was sitting cross-legged on the floor before the mantle.

_"I don't know what I'm doing.."_ Severus' voice floats through the air on a graveyard darkened gust of wind that doesn't exist.

"Hear that, Em? It appears Severus didn't plan for everything."

She looked between her brother and Severus before looking at the skin flap that hung over the flickering hearth.

"What happens if we don't learn?"

"The egg will die." Aven almost smiled a darkened smirk that he held back with a bit to the cheek. 

Aven brought his sister around the armchair and released her into the circled space to pick a space to sit. He kept eyes with Severus until the man would turn his eyes down on the drawing pad before him, the image of his expression blocked by his hair that fell before his face.

Aven explained with a tilt of his hand. "And, well...then there's also something else."

"What?"

Aven didn't say anything, just looks straight as Severus who pulled from under the pad, a folded newspaper that was snatched quickly and pushed towards Ember. The paper was the Daily Prophet and the paper was passed with the correct page upfront for her.

"Go on. Read it." Avens finger landed on a specific line for her to start at.

".. and although the photograph is darkened and glossed by the glass of the window, from the shadow of the night, three figures are seen before lense. One that met the description of the once Headmaster, Severus Snape. Is this true? Who is he with? And with the upcoming year, what does this mean for Hogwarts? What does this mean for the Ministry? What does this mean for the humanity of the magical peace we have worked so hard for if true? I promise to keep you updated." Rita Skeeter""

Ember looked up at Aven who wasn't looking at her, before looking at Severus who still looked at his pad of paper.

"There's a lot we need to do..." Aven sighed.

"Where are we going to get what we need?" She paced a voice that wanted to rush.

She was confused now and looked at Severus for anything but what he was giving. A look, a flinch of the hand…But, alas he gave her nothing of any emotion or tip and it made her want to scream.

"He's another thing we need to add to our to-do list..." Aven pushed out his words. 'Apparently, that infection was festering far longer than we thought... and at this point, we don't have the supplies to continue properly without reverting back to where we came.."

"So what do we do?!" Ember snapped. Too many things were being said to far apart. She wanted a list and to know what their direction was. What made her angry was that they spoke as if they knew everything already but didn't want to tell her.

"Minerva,"Ember said quickly reading the look on both men's faces. Had they spoken of things without her? They looked to be acting in tandem for something. What? She doesn't know, so in familiar fashion, Ember asks, pushing the conversation forward for the two mute men.

"What about this money problem?"

They both said nothing and both avoided her look. Aven was suddenly a sparking ember as Severus looked away rather uncomfortably. 

"We'll get to that then." Aven passed over the topic entirely with a deciding tone and slowly, looking towards Severus for the support he says, "When do we go see, Minerva?"

Aven looked at Severus who rose his head for the first time and pulled with it a piece of parchment, a letter from the bottom of the pad and he slid it across the table to Ember before returning to his drawing. 

"Tomorrow," Ember read with a nod and a sigh. "Okay, then. How are we going in?"

_"I have a theory."_

 

.................................                       ...............................                       .........................................              ......................................................         ...........................................

 

That night, Severus could hear the twins argue. He tried not to listen but it was hard seeing how there was no other distraction and he didn't feel keen on moving from his bed to shut the open window. Rather muffled, they were arguing outside by the side of the house. He heard words like  _Malfoy_ , like  _money._ Words like,  _photograph_ and _Daily Profit._ Then he heard words like  _git,_  and,  _insufferable_ coming from both parties. They both seemed angry but not at each other as much as they were just projecting.. and for the most part they weren't even mad for the same reason. Aven was furious because of the Daily Profit and now they were traveling to Hogwarts, the most horrible place to keep a secret.  Aven wasn't happy with the exposure. He never was. Ember, she was upset for another reason.. She was upset because they all only knew one family who could possibly flip a tab without a second thought. 

"You're getting weak!" Ember suddenly yelled and Severus slowly pushed himself up as the front door slammed downstairs. 

"This isn't worth it." Aven would yell a few minutes later but Severus would stay in bed until he heard the sound of crashing, then he would play his dutiful part and raise from the bed. The sleeve of his bathrobe falls below his lost fingers, and he noticed that rather quickly and felt most comfortable as he traveled across the room.

Unfortunately, he wouldn't even make it to the stairs without getting involved. He blinks and rubs one of his eyes with his good hand as the door opens but looks straight at Aven whose already standing. The forceless figure brings him to flinch as he always would as the phantom brother stands in the otherwise silent and empty hall. Brave, he travels the space between them one foot after another until he stops in front of the man who blocks the stairs. Nearly eye to eye with the man who looked like a furious beast, Severus asses the situation quickly, not needing much to know of the current state. The twin is angry, but Severus quickly realizes though it's not an anger for him, it would be directed at him.

_Going for water._

"We have a sink up here."

_I don't have a glass._

Aven doesn't move from in front of the stairs he only narrows his eyes, but after a moment in high tension, the twin takes his first step closer, sending Severus a step back. Then again, and another few, and with each step the phantom-like man takes, Severus is back another, knowing it's best just not to fight with a man he can not win against in his damaged state.

"What's your take on the paper, Severus?" Avens always ghosted voice rivals what the staff and students used to describe himself as. He couldn't fight Aven.. not these days and they both knew it. 

_I'll go back to my room._

"Answer my question."

_I wish I knew who took it._

There a moment of silence again before Avens eyes narrowed sharply. 

"I'm getting tired of your shit."

_"'Shit' is not what I mean to cause for you."_

'But somehow you always do and always have..."

Aven wanted to fight. He didn't care who, the man just wanted to fight anyone but his sister and Severus knew this and knew right now the man was elevated because of his sister so Severus reverts to what he thinks is best.

_I think I'll be back in my room._

"My room." Aven snaps, reminding the older man what his position was in a harsh way, "this house is mine and nothing apart it will ever be yours unless you bring it in for yourself. And even then.. It's mine once it gets in here."

Severus would ignore the dryness in his throat and would obediently turn around and go back into the room that was only a few steps away now; the entire time feeling Avens glare against his skin and against the back of his neck, even after the bedroom door had been shut.  

....... 

They met in the yard like a congregation, like a murder of crows. All in black, hoods raised, their forms shadowing against the grey, clouded background. It was night time, the safest time to travel to the castle of many, many eyes and more voices so they hadn't another choice. Tonight, the moonlight was blocked by an approaching storm but if all went well, and everything that was expected, happened, the storm was something none would have to worry about traveling in. They would apparate on Severus's terms and with everything expected, would land on the grounds of Hogwarts anywhere he pleased. This was a gamble neither person knew would work, but they truly didn't have much of another way that wouldn't allow a single eye to see them. Ember closed her eyes and cross her fingers as she held tightly to her brother's hand, Aven was held by Severus at his wrist and with a sharp breath out from Severus, the three popped from the spot.

Travel was fast and upon first look, Severus nearly smiled. The place where they entered was the place he envisioned, the office he remembered from his nightmares. The appear in the parlor portion of the office, a place off to the side. Appearing inside a rounded room as expected, Ember looked around the Headmasters old office from her childhood that had been left the same for centuries, now with a wide-eyed women sitting behind the desk, her hand on her heart, eyes stuck with fright.

"Severus.." Minerva whispered as the man turned, his gaze passing over her.

"Well, Severus, I'll give it to you," Aven huffed as he regained his footing with a twisted look around the room, "You were right. I guess you are headmaster." 

Her hand moved from her heart to in front of her mouth as she reasoned who had appeared in the office and rose slowly from the high backed chair behind the massive wooden desk. Aven would guide Ember out of the way as Minerva walked straight into Severus's arms and nearly into tears.

"I know you promised you would be back, I just… didn't believe it. I had reasoned..." Suddenly she pushed him away, "How stupid of you!" She scolded. "What if... literally anyone else had been in here when you showed up! Especially you two back there, Aven and Ember Fields." 

He said nothing only grinned a small grin, and this time around Minerva was over the moon to accept this silence as she rose her hands and ran her fingers over the man's arm lightly; touching him as if she was checking his actuality. 

"But, you're here for a reason I suppose?" Minerva's hand landed on the top of the large desk as she stepped back and looked at the twins and Severus over from a slight distance.

"Yes." Aven's arms slipped off his sister's shoulders and he stepped around her, pulling a list from his coat. "We seem to have run into difficulty and were wondering if we could ask for aid?"

"Anything, dear Aven," Minerva said so kindly to the ghost who stood before her.

"Well, first Severus needs Pomfrey, his throat-"

With a hand wave that distracted the brother, Minerva had sent off a summoning by painting to the hospital wing to bring up help.

"...is damaged and needs aid we do not possess."

"What's next." Minerva pushed for the rest, looking at the grandfather clock as it ticked one AM.

" _How is the school year coming?"_

It had been the first of a few firsts that day. The first Severus had communicated, the first notion of conversation but strictly business, a first where Minerva took a breath and calmed. The first where Minerva could say she was actually, fully happy. 

"The year.."The old woman nodded with a very meant smile. "The year is progressing quite calmly which is nice after....everything."

Suddenly all the wounds were fresh again. The last time she saw him he ran from her. The last time she saw him he was alive... She hadn't yet learned to live with what he's done while he was living too.

" _That's good."_ to her his voice is like a dream she had many of... A smile breaks the stone woman's face as again her eyes welled up, something turned away from the moment a knocking came at the door.

"It's Poppy," Aven told the Headmistress who looked at him with an odd expression before moving on.

"Come.. come in," Minerva called quickly wiping her eyes and turning from everyone for the quick moment they looked at the door.

Poppy came in but didn't look right away, she was too busy closing the door behind her. "I told you, Minerva, I'm trying as hard as I can to get that shipment bu-"  The woman immediately dropped the medical kit she held and it was hard to tell whether that dropped faster or her jaw had as she looked at the old Headmaster she had helped heal as a child.

"Min..Minerva." Poppy's hands moved up to her mouth as she tried stepping closer to the Headmistress, her eyes on Severus who had his eyes locked on her.

"Yes. Poppy." She said warmly. "It seems that shadows have returned."

"Oh my Merlin! What..." She looked around like a lost mercat. "do you need, what does anyone need... Severus." She looked back at him again. "Anything." She assured quickly waving the medical kit to slide over to her.

"Here," Aven spoke up and outstretched the list which she took.

"Hmm." Poppy sighed as she looked over the list.

"Everything I have, but nothing I brought…." Her voice laced with self-disappointment. "Throat based infection, huh?" She lowered the page and looked at Severus, for a flicker of  a moment it was like the woman had to think of what could be wrong . "Oh.." She looked at him again now, like he was wonder and his throat was a medical mystery she wanted to explore. "I'm guessing we are keeping him away from the populous?"

"Correct." Minerva nodded.

"Alright. Fair." She slowly walked up to Severus, slowly raising her hand and touching his cheek, tilting his head to the side.  "I'll… I'll be back in about fifteen minutes. We can have what needs to be done, done, in an hours time if what I'm assuming is true."

"Thank you, Poppy.' Minerva smiled as the medi-witch rushed from the room.

Once the door was closed, silence overtook the room in breath catching thickness. Minerva refused to take her eyes off of either the man in front of her, or the twins who stood close in the shadowed corner of the room. She didn't want to say anything, she just wanted to remember this.

"I just.." Minerva tried, her voice lapsing into an excited sorrow and she shook her head in defeat when nothing else came up.

"It's been a long time," Ember whispered.

"Like this.." Minerva looked at Severus, "Time without needing to rush off or be distant. Yes… it's been to long." Minerva whispered as she held attention on Severus who watched the years of flickering memories that ran behind her eyes. He saw it, him at 11, his first day oh Hogwarts, him as a 21-year-old, the year when he was hired. There was a memory were at  30 they spoke together in the staff room, and he saw public arguments and chess games over hot chocolate. She had been in his life longer than his own mother and had helped him more than his entire family ever had. She had never left him. Even towards the end she had held his hands and assured him, although she wanted to hate him, she still found herself trusting him. And here he sat, back from the dead where he was never dead, placing himself in the armchair before her and she found her eyes tracing the white scar that broke his lips and flickered in the candlelight.

"How are you? How are you all?" Minerva asked after a long while of staring at Severus.

"Overall, good. But, we were wondering if we could speak to another here." Aven answered as Ember clung to his hand with hers.

"Anyone."

"Hagrid. We.. we have a sick bird."

"A Phoenix?"

The three went silent and seemed to all look different ways.

"Is that where the fingers went?" Minerva's eyes flickered. "I remember full hands at our last meeting."

The self-conscious embarrassment brought his now deformed hand into his pocket and a snarl to his lip. The door rapped then which broke the uneasy silence and Poppy announced herself before sliding into the office.

"I.. I think some students saw me carrying the extra kit in here, but I don't think anything will come of it."

" _They will say the Headmistress is having a heart attack. A midnight medical emergency."_

His words, the way he sounded in the air was most definitely a sickened tone. It was distant and fazed, like tumbling down a long tunnel and even in such a happy moment for those around, the darker truth brought seriousness to his healing. Minerva would swear she tried her hardest not to look when Poppy gently pulled away from the scarf that wrapped the man's throat. She did though. She tried not too but looked and if it weren't for Poppy'ss own audible gasp, she believed they would have heard her instead. His neck was.. simply knarled. Trashed. Shred. Pale, reds and whites mixed together on an uneven surface. All these descriptions and more explained such a horrific story against the once pure pale skin. Healed except for red and bruising an what's left is missing chunks of skin in embedded shed lined scars. It was horrid and Minerva suddenly felt sick at both the injury and the image that flashed of it happening to such a man as Severus.

"Oh, my." Poppy sighed. "Whoever healed this, this far, please let me mentor." Poppy oogled with an impressed tone as she touched his throat and felt past the scars to the inflammation and infection within. Ember knocked against Avens shoulder against hers and both wore accomplished smiles on their faces as the brother's arm dropped over his sister's shoulder.

"Well. Let's get this taken care of." Poppy sighed, a flick of her finger devices started laying themselves out on the table before her. 

There were needles and a tube or two. There were potions to drink and ointments to apply. This would go on and on but wasn't long after Poppy started when a heavy knocking came from the door and Hagrid, back hunched, came into the Headmistress's office looking sheepish before incredibly pale.

"Sev'rus." The half-giant gasped as he stepped into the room where Poppy was instructing both swallowing and dabbing along the deformed skin.

"Hello Hagrid," Aven stated with a step forward, arms wrapped around his back.

"Av'n. How are ya?!" Hagrid explained noticing the others in the room. "An Ember is there in the corner!"

"Yes.." Aven mused, "Things are good, thank you. Actually, I needed your help. Could we walk?" Aven gestured to outside the door.

"Oh.. I don' think that be a good idea. I'm pretty sure a rumor ha' started. Both em' Head girl an boy standn' outside, watchn'."

"Of course." Minerva sighed, from her seat at her desk as she glanced over at the healing pair that was still working from the armchair.

"So perhaps we haven't traveled untraced." Ember caught the snarl in her lip and looked away instead as Aven looked over to Hagrid and let out a sigh.

"Lets just.. Sit down and talk I guess." Her brother said calmly, biting back his own irritations.

"I'll make some tea," Minerva said with a nod as the room split into their own spaces and conversations and work.

That night as the rain fell like daggers outside, Ember filled the few Hogwarts staff in on the last few years from the warmth and comfort of the Headmistresses office while Severus sat still being worked on. At one moment in time Minerva would turn and see Severus staring at the empty portrait that held Severus's name on a gold plaque but had no picture.

You're here." She explained. "So, you can't have a portrait." 

"That will be suspicious." Aven pointed out.

"I can cover it," The headmistress returned. 

Aven nor Ember would speak of Lucius, and none of the staff asked, though Hagrid did bring up the paper's articles.

"It seems,  _someone_ knew what to look for in people... I don't think the picture was an accident as it's claimed." Aven sighed taking a sip of his tea. "This only increases our belief there are whispers."

"Any plans for those?" Minerva asked over her own cup, again her eyes holding on the muted man.

The older brother shrugged through a sharp hiss from Severus as a needle is pushed into a sensitive part of his neck. "Nothing as of right now. Stay out of attention the best we can."

"Sounds like the fairest plan." Minerva leaned back in the chair, not finding much of any other safe option.

"So what is your plan for you three personally?"

This question silenced the tree who passed looks at each other, unsure of how to answer.

"Well," Ember started. "We've kinda just been focusing on Sev's voice. The Phoenix..."

"I been given y'ur brother lists," Hagrid said aloud as it was true, Aven was sitting scribbling off a personal notebook Hagrid kept notes in as well as taking down the rambled tips that came occasionally in conversation.

"Severus?" Minerva asked.

Poppy had just stepped away and the teacher was buttoning back up his collar before wrapping another layer that hung in the form of a scarf tightly around his neck. His hood was up which fully masked the carnage by his ears and the far more noticeable scars towards the back of his neck.

"Severus."

It was not unlike the man to refuse conversation and Minerva fell back into his mannerisms, rolling her eyes as she left him alone as his eyes held out the window. It was enough to have him there, she didn't need him to say a word.

"I think, we're about ready to get out of here." Ember read him well. "if Poppy clears him."

_I need to speak to Minerva.... alone..."_

The room quieted suddenly and looks were passed but Minerva smiled. He could have made it here and out with everything he needed without speaking to Minerva but some conversation needed to be had.. and this one was very important. 

"I cn' take the twins to m' hut."

"You can go the headmaster's private stairwell.." Minerva pushed glancing at Severus who was still watching out the window. 

"I can get the twins som' that of what they'll need."

"I think that idea is swell." Minerva nodded her head

............... ........................ .................... 

_"I don't want to be here."_ His voice, though healthier, was quieter and insecure.

"Oh, I know." She lowered to the armchair at his side and pushed towards him a potion he took and she watched, as he held the cu between his hand, the steam was gone. 

_I can't drink hot."_

"Oh." She didn't know why she felt like what she did was an insult. "I'm sorry."

He shakes his head. 

"You wanted to.. talk?"'

He nodded but communicated nothing for a minute.

_I hate this office._

A small smile, something for him even though she wanted to give him everything. She knew was he was here, and today, she would cut him his break.  _  
_

"I missed you, Severus. I missed you so very much."

He looked up at her and raised an eyebrow.  _"Why?"_

"It wasn't like Hogwarts without you."

_"Yes... I was quite a kind teacher. Such a loss to lose me."_

"Sh." she softly scolds him "Fitch has been quite lonely." 

_I should let him know next."_ Severus smirks.

"He'd be happy to know you're alive too."

His smile faulted and Minerva would cock her head to the sighed as he fell. 

"What?" she asked.

_Is anyone actually.. happy.. I'm alive._

Minerva placed her cup down and rose from the seat and placed her hands out for Severus to take. 

"Please?" 

He does and she pulls him up.. well, he lifts himself up, but he'll act like she did it alone. She holds his hands in hers before dropping one and placing it on his face. 

"I am happy you're alive, Severus Snape. And I know many others are too."

The room is quiet again as the weight of their final days hangs on them both.

 " _Minerva..._ _I_ _just_.." HIs voice is weak, and perhaps so was she. _" I_ _wanted to say, I'm sorry."_

Minerva laughed.

She laughed a real-life laugh that she couldn't control. It was a happy loud laugh, a laugh that flashed her teeth and twinkled her eyes. Her arms are around him tightly and she holds him close as he hugs her back.

"You're sorry." She wipes away a tear away as she steps back. "I'm sorry. We're all sorry, Severus." She chuckled again. "I don't even think, I'm sorry even touches it anymore for anyone."

_We're past that point?_

"We have been, Severus." She smiles and he smirked back. So far the conversation was progressing perfectly, no way we'd expect it at all but maybe that was because he was so adjusted to the darkness.  He looks around the office as he continues to hold her hand she refuses to let go of. 

"Does it look the same?"

_It always looks the same._

Minerva frowns. "I put that there." She releases him and starts across the office and picks up a picture frame. A frame she holds to her chest and she walks back to him. She smiles, flips the picture and shows it to him. He takes it. 

The picture is a tan scale shot of his first day as staff. The days before the school started so it was just them.  Just staff and here they all stood close together. Minerva looked distressed, Flitwick looked around excited and Sprout was laughing. He was in the middle. So much younger, cockier. A wolfish man in his prime and a dark life and sentence he won the best of. The picture was taken by the castle, near where Hooch teaches her first years. She was probably the one who took the picture... He doesn't remember and his brows furrow because of that, not because he's upset. 

"You will come back?" Minerva's voice whispers quietly which brings Severus to look up from the picture and to hand it back.

_I have this picture at my flat._

Have you been back there?" She asked him, curious if he would tell her the truth she already knew. 

He didn't say anything, just nodded his head just slightly before standing up.

_"Walk me out?"_

"Of your school?" She tried a joke, but this would cause Severus to pale and quickly look uncomfortable. 

_"I was never Headmaster.."_ He breathed out of his nose as he shifted uncomfortably on his feet.  _"At least, I never truly felt like it."_

This would be a conversation for another time, a time where Severus had more strength and less blood over his neck and she knows this so she doesn't respond and instead, slips her arms around his, a move he recuperates by lifting his own arm up. They would take the headmasters to tunnel down to the property and then to Hagrid's hut where they meet with the twins who are hidden in the back, sheltered by shadows they are finalizing things with Hagrid who looked the pair over and smiled. 

"Good night." Minerva smiled, having a hard time letting go of Severus who wasn't rushing her in doing so. "And..... be sure to travel the safest of ways." 

"Good night, Minerva." Ember ran ahead and gave Minerva a hug that was tight and warm. 

"Thank you for your help." Aven would go for a handshake but Minerva would hug him too, which was like hugging Severus, just a little bit of an emptier person. 

At last Minerva loosened up on his arm that he slithered out of her grasp and sadly, she watched him leave to join Aven and Ember. 

"You'll be back?" She asks again when she realizes she had yet to get an answer. 

_"Soon, I'll come back to everyone."_ She hears his voice as the trip fades from view.


	19. Choices Made Are Cliffs to Fall From

**Choices Made Are Cliffs to Fall From**

 

_Mamihlapinatapai_

_(n)_

_The wordless look between two people who both desire something, yet are equally reluctant to initiate._

**Hermione.**

Hermione Granger had woken up to the inside of a random bedroom at Grimmauld place for the fourth time that week. She'd wake around eleven but she wouldn't know that because she wouldn't look for the time. It'll be just another day where she'd only get out of bed when she needed to use the lavatory and when she needed to eat. She had taken a weeks worth of vacation days that she was nearing the end of, and all she seemed to be doing was arguing with herself on just taking a full extended leave so she could do this some more. Sometimes she thought about her friends but wouldn't for very long because there was only three things that could be going on with her friends right now.

One, they were all dead.

Two, they just somehow forgot to check here when they were looking for her.

Or three, they just didn’t care enough to look...

No one had come up to see her and she was left to her own self without being bothered for the last four days. Ron was probably with whomever he was with. A woman she never saw but a woman she knew was in their bed or had been at least a few times... Would he break things off with this girl? Or, was she the second woman now?

It was horrible.

It was lonely…

It was being an adult.

 Hermione had always had someone to talk to. You wouldn’t know it, but because she was the female friend of Harry Potter, she had a small following herself that she remembered quite fondly. Most were fake friendships and fake words, but some girls left an impression with her and although she never spent that much time with them then, she still talked to regularly to them now. But that was all then. Now she was an adult and she was left to fix things for herself, by herself simply because they were her problems. And that’s what she was doing until one morning when someone else was in the kitchen when she walked in. Remus, she had forgotten he often stayed here and he was sitting alone at the long wooden table. His own bowl was in front of him with his own food prepared that he ate off a fork which is what he was doing until he looked up and looked rather shocked when he did.

“Hermione.” He said with a growing smile. “I wasn’t aware there was anyone else here.”

“Yeah,” she smiled, instantly embarrassed by her morning wear this late in the day. “I’m sorry.” She laughed and took a step or two backwards. "I’ll… I’ll be right back..”

She comes back in better clothes. A simple robe set, her hair combed and put back nicely. She cleaned up her face and added a little makeup just to make the black circles less black around her eyes. She smiles when she walks back in and Remus smiles back just the same as he always had.

“I’m sorry about that,” she smiles and sees there’s food on the table next to him.

“Don’t be ms Granger,” Remus assures, and it’s something Hermione knows he means.

  
She wonders how many mornings Remus had woken up the same way. She wonders how he wakes up now? Does he rise with the day after all he’s lost, or does he lay there and wonder what he did wrong?  Does he ever think about what he did right? They ate most of the meal in silence but Remus stayed until she was finished and smiled at her when she looked up.

“What?” She asked and Remus shrugged his shoulder. “For someone who has done all that you have, I wonder what could get you this down?”

Hermione shakes her head and gives a small laugh. “Boys.” She gave a weak smile.

“They never do grow up.” Remus agreed with a head nod and Hermione smiled a true smile for the first time that week.

“That a girl” He smiled.  “The world is better when you smile.”

She looked away. “Ronald.. “Ronald is who I’m having problems with.”

“And I, with Tonks.. And here we both are.” He looks at her. “At least if one of us dies, someone will know.”

With a dark smile he stands up and then he’ll leave when his belongings land in the sink and some how, Hermione is left feeling better than when she left. That afternoon was a quiet one that she spent hidden away from Remus who pretty much stayed hidden away from her. That, or they just never crossed paths. She stayed upstairs, exploring the artifacts and memories that the house held. They did a lot of scavenging when they were younger but now she saw more simple things, as well. Small things she wouldn’t have noticed when she was younger. Things like dates, and especially faces now stuck out to her, as do words that are placed together in odd or familiar ways. From under the bed, in a pile of papers and a few books, she sees a flicker of a photograph that she pulls out. 

It was of Snape, she noticed instantly. A younger version of the man standing next to another badge wearing student with long hair and a strong face. Lucius, she pushed her brows together. She flipped the picture over and saw a small scratching of ink against the bottom of the page.

_“I can promise you one thing, though. Severus Snape will not die in this war. Why? Because I know he won't. That man is like a cockroach. Even if he wanted to die, he won't...”_

She turns the picture around and looks it over again. Snape was sitting down on a rock in the shade of a large tree that shadowed him from the sun. Barefoot, the cuffs on his pants are rolled up. Not high, just to his calves. His longer hair is tied back in a loose ponytail and his eyes are on Lucius who looks to be talking. He wears a black tanktop under the school robes, it must be a weekend she reasons. The man grins and then he looks behind him for a moment before turning back to Lucius. The Snape figure would say something that would make Lucius smile and nod his head as his hand slips into his pocket. Lucius was clearly older and it wasn't the badger badge over his house crest for her to know. He just looked older. More wolfish than his lanky companion. More confident and strong. His stance was strong, his eyes watched around them, his feet were also bare but he was standing in the sun and on the sand while Severus kept to the shade with his feet up on the large boulder he sat on.

“Hermione?” She hears Remus whisper from down the hall. Quickly, she snagged some of the surrounding papers as well as the photo it’s self and shoved them into her pocket before starting off. She had to wait until she crept down enough stairs but soon she whispered back,

“Yes?” 

Turning the corner and dropping onto the ground floor, she saw Mrs. Weasley and Ginny at the wooden kitchen table. Mrs. Wealsey had been crying, Ginny looked angry but was the first to approach.

“Hermoine! I’m so sorry we didn’t come  sooner.. SOMEONE shut everyone out and when we found out why……” Ginny's vice died away as she bit her lip.

She was upset because she lost Ron…Her heart hurt but somehow she couldn't cry. She had gone through much worse than a breakup, she had reasoned, but now she was seeing it all as maybe just shock... Maybe Ron was right.. Maybe she did hide herself too well for her own good.  She was upset because her life had fallen apart and she was sad because her heart hurt and felt like it was missing. She was very sad because they were not children anymore and life was not as simple...even when it wasn't it was better than this.. She was upset, and as she just felt more and more upset, the feeling she didn't feel minutes ago was all she felt now. Her eyes started to dampen and her face turned red..

“I’ve been at it with him all night with his father and brothers and, oh course Ginny, but… Oh, my.” Mrs. Weasley had to pause to catch her breath. “I am so furious, he’s flown off somewhere, but don’t worry we’ll be here and when he comes back-”

“No.” She snapped unusually harshly but quickly reset herself. “You can’t make someone be with you.” Hermione spoke softly, and admittedly, a bit robotically. “He doesn’t want to be with me, it would be worse off if he were made to feel forced. Just… let him be happy…”

..

 

Let him be happy….

That sentence rolled through her mind over and over again that night as she lay on her back and over and over again she thought of what that meant. Thinking about Remus made her think about Snape and then she thought about Sirius. She thought of Draco, so she thought of Lucius and then she thought of Narcissa. She thought about Dumbledore, and then she even thought about Voldemort.

What was happy?

Was happy getting what you or what everyone else wants for you? Is happy power? Or is happy love..? Can someone be happy alone? Why did Snape _want_ to live? What did Severus Snape want to live for? She thinks these very close but very different questions as she holds the picture out in one hand of the younger men. Surly if there was a man who was done and through it was he. Now in her later years, she understood what broken meant and he was the most broken of them all. What made a man like Severus Snape happy? Did anything? If not…. Was it worth living…?  Why was he alive? These core questions only rotated and at one point she'd even ask the picture when for a few hours the image of Lucius had left the image. The man said nothing, just looked around a bunch but focused out to sea. She wanted to ask him in a time where she could stand on adult-like grounds with him in a time where he could speak for himself. She had been thinking a lot lately… and not much of it was anything good.

She loved her job. She loved her friends. She loved what she had made for herself, she loved her parents and knew that they all loved her back. But she wasn’t happy, and now in the moments under Molly Weasley's sunlight warmth, she had felt a sickness that craved for darkness. The woman's hands were swinging all around her as she went on, her fingers kept catching the corners of Hermione's eyes and she found that annoying and didn't know why… The sound of her voice was a higher pitch than she could handle right then, and Ginny would pick up with her mother, talking about how what he did was horrible all at the same time. But she didn’t say anything. What Ronald did was horrible. What he had become was… horrible. She wasn’t arguing any of this but still, they seemed like all they wanted to do was yell at each other. It was loud, it was obnoxious and Hermione slowly stepped back from the kitchen table where those in good meaning sat, turned away from them, and walked right out of the room. Now she was in bed, planning on what had to be done next and she had a few things to think about. First, she needed to get her things from the apartment they shared. She needed to get her clothing, her cat, and all of that but she didn't want to go alone. As well, she needed somewhere for all her belongings to go. She'd think and plan and plan some more and just as luck would have it, right before she fell asleep her plans came together and Hermione promised herself that whatever she was going to do next, she would do it as strong as possible and just as confidently as a Malfoy. 

That afternoon her life is already coming togeather. She went through only three apartments before she found one she liked, looked nice and was also in her pay range, which was not too much of a problem. The problem was that she wanted something nice while also wanting something right then and there. By two she dropped money into the hand of her new landlord, an older wizard named Tyler who promised her keys tomorrow after another run through and final fix-up of the apartment. Her apartment was a one bedroom, third-floor apartment made of dark wood and a tile kitchen. The living room corners are curved outwards and their windows long and clear. Her view was of the mixed magic city street while at the same time is high enough to not allow many if any people to look in at her back. She'll make this apartment everything she ever wanted because of course, this was her first, single apartment. She had moved right in with Ron and that wa a mistake she wouldn't make again and she needed time for herself... something she had little of... She made a twist on the wooden floor in her socks before thinking about Crookshanks and remembering the next step in her plan.  For this, she's at the Ministry, confidently and strong in her stride she's something to be proud of and this is kept up until she landed at the man's door. Knocking, a strong knock, the door cracks open on its own and Hermione walks in.

“Draco.” She started in a terribly chipper tone as she approched his desk. “I need a favor.”

He looked her up and down like a snake seizing its prey before continuing on with his next question.

“Okay?”

“I need your help moving some things into a new place.”

“Pardon.”

She almost laughed; he looked so insulted but maybe depression was driving her… most likely it was because when she’d think back to it, she'd notice the impulsiveness in the situation.

"I'm no package mover."

She smiled and stopped right at the edge of his desk that he sat behind.

"But you are you, and for this, that might just be enough."

He didn't understand and he huffed out with a small smirk as he tried in vain to make sense of all of this.

"I don't understand."

“You were right about Ronald...." She admits without much of a quiver to her voice. "Though, you were not right about the rest Weasley family as an entire. They are a wonderful family and no one can argue that. Ronald is a low-life dog and if you would be willing to help me, you and a few of your.. _ritzy_ friends would help me move out of where we were living together.”

"When?"

"Tomorrow. 3:00"

His eyes narrowed but he doesn't ask her what he was thinking, instead, she watches as he ignores the thought that she saw a flash in his eyes.

 “Do you have a destination?”

“Oh, yes. I will have an apartment set up. Absolutely no problem.”

And it wouldn’t be. Ministry work brought her money and she did so much that this wouldn’t actually affect her. It may just benefit her. Now, she’d just have to buy food for her and Crook and that sounded fantastic. She almost smiles at her thoughts and instead smiles at Draco.

“Actually, I’d pay all of you just to get everything packed and I’d move the rest on my own. Honestly, Draco," She laughed. "it’s just for show.”

He suddenly smiles a Slytherin smile at her statement that she spoke so boldly. Her act of jealous revenge had spiked his interest and she was almost shocked at how fast his eyes turned over.

“How Slytherin of you, Ms. Granger.” He almost compliments.

He almost looks proud.

“You want to flaunt what you think you’re worth in front of the man could have had anything?”

“That’s quite a compliment from you.”

“Is it?”

“Are you…”

He nods his head. “I am. I’ll do it and I have a few friends to play the part..” Dacos entire position shifts now and she realizes how close his shoulders had become compared to the openness in which he sits now.

"Thank you, Draco." She turns and she can hear his start up again right before she reaches the office door.

“Plotting with a Malfoy to get back at your cheating ex.... My, my, Hermione… How the years change us all.”

She says nothing and ignores the chill that races down her spine. When they looked at each other, he'd nod her off and she leaves the office and doesn't stop walking until she was in the elevator where once in, she'd collapse against the wooden panel wall. She had been nearly holding her breath the entire time since she entered his office and just never noticed but now, with her hand on her chest as she takes heavy breaths, she's asking herself if she had really done what she just did.

….

 

That night at Grimmauld Place, Remus sits alone again and Hermione will slip into the spot next to him.

“Remus..” Hermione said quietly.

“Yes, ms Granger”

She had always found comfort within the man's almost always academic tone.

“Did you really hate, Snape?”

Remus pauses and is instantly obviously uncomfortable. He looks around and clears his throat.

“No. I personally never did. He was a scholar at his best and I tend to get on quite well with those types.”

“Was?”

Remus smirks a dark smirk that reminds her of where he truly stands. “He’s not much of anything anymore.”

“You’ve seen him?” She asked and he just nodded as he took a few bites from his bowl. “Why?”

“He’s making a Retractium potion for his throat. With a man of his skill, I wouldn’t doubt he'd succeed especially seeing the help he has. Anyone who can fix a throat as you explained it as being hacked as it were, should get their own chocolate frog card for that alone.”

It was so odd watching a man speak so highly of someone with such a distasteful tone and cold glare. Hermione almost didn’t believe he was genuine. Almost.

"How do you know how he is?” She asks instead and Remus leans back in the chair and looks at her.

“I know what I can be scalped for and the potions my body can blend. My blood is vital to the potion he’s making. That’s probably how he lost his fingers.”

A tattle for a tattle, Remus had no reason to protect Severus anymore so he won’t and is full and upfront with a driving hatred.

“His fingers.” He waves his left hand, all five fingers moving.

"I don't understand?"

Remus shrugged. “Look at his left-hand next time he pops up.” He’d sigh. “Though, any trained dog can tell you he better get on with his throat, because of there's a damage brewing.

"How do you know that?” She exasperated.  

“We can smell things better than most people. Up to.. What, two nights before the full moon.”

“He never taught us that.”

“He wouldn’t teach you anything about my condition that could be seen as positive.”

“So, you gave him your blood?” She asked quietly, looking at her twisting fingers that the rest of the table.

He nodded and glanced away. “Just… doing my part. Excuse me, Hermione." He places both hands down on the table. "With that, I think I'm off to bed.”

 

* * *

 

**Severus**

Over the next day, Severus would remain locked away, crunching the same numbers over and over again. When they left Hogwarts Aven had left with a bag of everything that would hold them off, but what they were given would be something that could not be as regular as they all needed. Everything given by Hogwarts is supplied from the Ministry on a Ministry bill. He himself knew of the tab and how on top of everything else that the Ministry was strict with their tab. What they had now, was not a regular student list and all three quietly understood this would only be a retaining batch until they can set themselves up.. Something that they needed to do right away. He had tried everything but prices were prices and these prices were ridiculous. He shaved off a hefty amount by getting the werewolf blood from the source, but even so... he didn't know where to start paying off some of these ingredients. And this is what brought him to the door off the living room. Their father's office is now Avens and Aven was sitting at the desk scribing notes while going through traders paperwork and merchant pay with a set of owls at his side. Aven was signing papers with fake names of those created by those before him. Late that afternoon, Severus stood at the threshold and in sight of Aven for a very long time in silence before taking his first steps into the room. Growing bored he steps forward and the moment Severus's full foot landed on the floor of the study, Aven was up and out of the seat taking swift steps forward and standing in the middle of the room before Severus would finish transferring weight.

"What?" Avens voice was slick and harsh, he was angry and Severus took his second step into the room before landing his feet together and hand behind his back.

_"I should be asking you."_

A breath was pushed from Severus's nose as another set of steps were taken and eye contact was held. Nothing and Aven cooled himself down while Severus silently stood thinking to himself of the meaning behind the man's violent reaction.

_I need to talk to you, about something I know you will not like at all, but it's not an idea that I can pass to Ember yet._

This perked Aven up who cocked his head and lowered himself back into the desk chair, his arm waving out and towards the dark brown couch that sat in the corner by the overhanging bookshelf. Aven had always held a sort of den feeling to him in moments of conversation and maybe that's just a well-practiced response in dealing with Ember, but Aven cooled off and leaned back in the chair waiting for Severus to start. 

 _"I'm not sure where to start."_ He admits weakly without sitting and Aeven just nodded his head, looking remarkably like his father at that moment as Severus remembered the man as he had been.

"Just say it. One sentence." 

He takes a moment to pull the words up correctly and directly as possible. 

_I need to get finances from the Malfoys and I need you and Ember to be okay with that._

Perhaps to direct, Severus watches Aven watch him for a long minute before he, surprisingly, nodded his head and twist in the chair. 

"I've been doing numbers since the first day." He pulled out from the desk a spiral bound notebook and flipped it over. He picked a page and put it out for Severus to take.  "Do our numbers match?"

Indeed they did. Varied of course, but the lists were nearly identical, and the supply list just as precise. Slowly Severus put the two lists down and looked into the sharp violet eyes of Aven who did not look pleased at all. 

_"You knew I'd come asking."_

"I did." Aven nods.

_You've also thought up a response?"_

"I agree." The man said simply. "I don't think you're infected as much as you're reaching your literal  peak with us under what we can afford to risk to heal you."

He's confused because Aven isn't giving any sign to any emotion. Not even anger sits in the twins eyes, he's blank which makes the situation that much more precarious to carry on. 

_Where are we going with this?_

Aven shrugged his shoulders and looked back to the work he had been working on. After a moment of thought, he picked up the quill again and shrugs before turning his shoulder at the man. "At this point, Severus, you're not sick enough for me to care."

_"What?"_

Aven turned back to face him but only with his neck, "You heard me. You're up. You're walking, communicating and eating all by yourself now. Just like a big boy... This, is a conversation you need to be having with someone else."

_"I need you to back me up!"_

"On what?"

_"Reaching out to the Malfoys."_

Aven chuckled and placed the quill down as he rose out of the chair. "Oh no, Severus. I can't do that. That would be hypocritical."

Turning angry, Severus stood tall, " _Why's that?"_

Aven started towards the door that Severus chose to block causing Aven to stop toe to toe with him. 

"Because," The man growled as his eyes traced one of the deeper facial scars on Severus's jawline before moving up to his eyes. "I'm not in support of you getting in contact with Lucius Malfoy. Now, get out of my way."

He doesn't.  _"You agree he's the only one who can help."_

He still doesn't move from in front of Aven so Aven results to his physical self and has both hands wrapped around the front of Severus's robe. A move the man wouldn't accept and would push back from by slamming his foot into Avens calf with a hard enough force to distract the twin while with a slam and twist of his own forearm, Severus released himself, leaving Aevan to back up cussing out the pain.

"YOU!" Aven exclaimed. "He's the only way to help, YOU!" The two men stared each other down as Aven ignored his calf and stood twisting his wrist in his opposite hand. "For Merlin's sake, Severus! He killed our parents you selfish fucking prick. You want me to justify asking him for money!?" 

_"Times have changed.:_

"You don't fucking know that!" 

Severus bit his tongue and calmed down. He knew he couldn't yell and anger feeding anger was never a plyable way to work with Aven.  _"What if I could show you?"_  

 He watched Aven weighing everything from the past three years and everything from the time before that. "Show me what?" 

_"That Lucius has changed."_

"To what extent?" Severus didn't have time to answer before Avens face started to harden. "Have you spoken to Lucius?"

Nothing to respond, Severus glanced away which was enough for the twin. 

"Answer me, Severus!"

_"He found me when I was out."_

"How?"

_"That, I don't know."_

It was known that Severus was honest here so there wasn't a reason for Aven to accuse Severus of lying because he knew the man wasn't. But it seemed Severus had stayed calm long enough for Avens quick to sizzle out. The man lowered himself back into the chair and with an elbow on the armrest his fingers were up at his mouth and he bit his nail uncharacteristically as he glanced by Severus and out the door. He'd check, just to see if Ember was there but she wasn't. She was on the farm doing something with some sort of animal but it wouldn't be off if Aven received a twin based message. 

"Severus." Aven started on his own, his words quiet and slow. "I understand you... I understand," His open hand waved in the air before returning to under his jaw, "this. But we have talked about a metaphorical line and I have to let you know,  you've reached it. You coming here and asking me to justify requesting financial aid from the man who orchestrated my father and mothers death...is not what I think is respectful on your part... at all..."

_"My voice."_

"My sister's life."

Everything calmed down, the static in the room was gone and left instead of the touch of death and regretted memories of a very cold past.

_"I never have wanted to risk Ember."_

Aven shook his head sadly and straightened up, clearing his throat with a look around the room. "But look at what you're asking... I can't do that to her... Even if Lucius is swayed and has a grand apology until Bellatrix is dead, Embers not safe near them. I, am not safe with them and... this, the last thing I have of my mom and dad, our home, is not safe."

Severus went to communicate but stopped, looked at Aven and reset his jaw, looking at the floor as his bad hand slipped into his robe pocket. He nods because he knows he's been fairly defeated.

 _"Okay.."_ He shook his head.  _"Then I need help figuring out what I need to do next. I need to at least get rid of the occurring... whatever this is..."_

"It's that bad?"

_"As time goes on I'm becoming more and more aware of the fact I may not feel how bad damage is because I've become so... accustomed, to pain._

Aven nodded his head and as he thought he'd glance at Severus but would drop the attention eventually. "Come back tomorrow night." He lands on. "I'll have something planned out."

_"Until then?"  
_

"I have to do these papers and get them sent out." His hand lands on the nearly done stack of parchments but this just curves Severus's eyebrow.

"What?" Aven asks, narrowing his eyes.

_"Who do those go too?"_

"Traders papers?" 

Severus nodded. 

"A few friends of dad...." Aven sighed and suddenly drops the quill. 

"Dad's friends who are getting old and I've noticed some inconsistencies with the supply in the trade." He's uncomfortable. That's clear by how he sits and how he acts, so Severus will wrap his arms behind his back in a pose he often did as a teacher, and would wait for Aven to continue. 

  
"Shit's getting expensive to.. Cost of living and all..."

In a move Severus honestly didn't expect, Aven dragged a few pages off the desk and extended them towards the man. More costs and some timelines, Aven was so articulate he showed the slight cost rises over the last 5 years with a simple line. "Were made to trade here. We don't have real income and while everything was working for a very long time... lately..." His voice died like the final strong breath of a winters storm and in this moment when Severus looked up, Aven looked far older than he was. 

"I haven't told Ember about that, by the way. I would appreciate if you wouldn't either." He takes the papers back and places them face down on the desk. "She's not good with life threats if I don't have at least suggestions that comes with them... I'm just trying to figure it out first."

_We can assimilate... especially under me-"_

"No." Aven chuckled his darkness. "I'm not falling under any lime-lit wing of a man like you. If we come out of hiding, we come out on our own story..."

A smirk from Severus brought out a smirk in Aven. " _I can respect that."_

"I need you to."

Severus paused. _"I do."_

Aven nodded, and Severus started out of the office as the brother turned back around to the desk, immediately looking just as stressed as when Severus walked in. 


	20. Erosion of the Emotional Sort

**Erosion of the Emotional Sort.**

**Hermione**  

She wakes and fakes the confidence she wants so hard to feel in front of the man who waited below in the kitchen. Tea and oatmeal are set and she'll sit at the table to share time with the worn looking man before she leaves.

"You're going back into the world?" He asks her, a smile playing on his lips.

"I'm not leaving you," She smiles a weak smile because she knows she is. "I just needed a few days to pull myself together."

"Sometimes that's all we need. Are you going back to Ronald?"

"No, well," She shrugged. "I'm going back to our apartment but I'm going there to gather my things up."

"New apartment?"

"My first apartment." She shifted straighter and flashed a smile.

"Really?"

"Well, yeah actually." she gave a small laugh. "Right after Hogwarts, I moved in with Ronald so, this will be the first place that's, well... All mine."

He smiles happily at her and she feels the warmth of her soul for the first time in the last few weeks. "I'm excited for you."

Breakfast is finished and the bowls are being cleaned by magic and Hermione has packed the few things she always carried, but before going out the door she turns around and stares down the hall, giving a thought to Remus who would be here long after she left. She'd also give a moment of silence for the memory of her childhood that faded through the halls like the wisp ends of ghosts. With her hand securely around the door handle, Hermione closes out the world behind her with a sad sigh as she turns to face the chill of the world head-on. Uncomfortably quickly she would remember Draco and would hurry on forward to gather her keys from her new Landlord and then beat the train for three to bring Draco and whoever he was bringing with her to their flat where Hermione didn't care if Ron and his fling was there or not.

"Draco." She'd eventually find herself before the man who stood where they said they'd meet. He grins and from out of the nearby shop comes none other than Crab, Goyle, and Blaise. A familiar group that was quick to take familiar moves and falls into familiar spots behind the blond man who looked like he held the strength of the total control in his eyes again. He looked rather powerful in his position that picks him perfectly. She smiles at him and approaches the otherwise darkened crowd. 

"Ms. Granger." His tone is sharp. "There isn't a need for such unfamiliarities. We aren't friends after all." 

They're the same age, but he speaks to her in a lifted tone that almost reflected a child scolding manner. Still, she couldn't help but smile. 

"I figure we find fear in familiarity so," he motions the three men behind him. "I thought this group would be perfect."

"I still don't know why we're doing this." Blaise asked.

"You're," Draco was quick to correct and teach, "here because I asked you to be and you agreed. I'm here because I want to be."

"Okay." She passed out small tweed bags. "Just call my things into this. You guys can split between the kitchen, common areas. I'll take the bedroom and bathroom, and then you guys are done."

"Why can't you just do this?" Blaise asked, his eyes flashing between Draco and Hermione. 

 Draco speaks simply, "Image that this will rip the heart of Weasle. And Ms. Granger knows that."

"Sounds Slytherin," Goyle shrugged and looked at Crabbe who nodded his head. 

"I agree."  Draco nodded. "Which is why it has to be us."

They start to walk down the sidewalk and the one street later they step up towards the house. But, something is wrong. It looks like.. yes... The Angelic car sits on the side of the road and Hermione slows down and so do the company who was trailing down a little back behind her as the front door of the flat opened suddenly. 

"Oh shit!" She sees a flash of red hair and just as fast she was behind the brush that started a few feet back from the street and leads into a small gathering of trees.

She heard Draco, who although was kneeling in the brush is smirking, almost laughing. "Why does it sound just like you, to be such a bloody know-it-all but not know when the family of the man we're here to make jealous would be here?"

"I..." Hermione didn't know what to say but Blaise's voice would come from further up the brush wall. "Come on. we can hear them from over here." 

And with some magic, they all could.

"This is disgusting!" Mrs. Weasley's voice came from over the bushes and towards the open doorway of the flat they had shared. 

"I'm sorry, Mom!"  Hermione's heart skipped when she heard his clearly upset voice of Ron as he stepped out of the house followed by his father. Clearly, that was the wrong thing to say though because the next thing that was said was just about screamed. 

"I NEVER TAUGHT YOU TO BE LIKE THIS, RONALD. THAT GIRL, THAT YOUNG, BEAUTIFUL WOMAN IS YOUR BEST FRIEND BEFORE ANYTHING ELSE AND YOU DID THIS TO HER!"

"I wasn't happy, mom!"

"It doesn't, bloody matter Ronald! Hermione deserved far more than what you gave her! I told you to come home!"

"I don't want to go home, mom! I pay my rent here I stay here!" 

"You are going to vacate this apartment so that Hermione Granger can come to get her things without you trying to bugger your way back in. I'm doing this for her, not you!"

The house door slammed, the car door slammed and Hermione waited until the car left down the road before slowly rising from the bush. 

"I guess we won't be making anyone jealous." Crabbe sighed looking around the street. 

"You guys can all go." Hermione sighed a sad breath. "I got this because.. you know.. he's not coming back... Sorry to waste your time."

Blaise was gone with a pop but Draco stayed and the two looked at each other before looking at Draco.

"Let's just get this done, Granger." He growled to himself as he motioned for Crabbe and Goyal to follow him into the flat to gather her things without much more to say after that.

"Thank you, Draco." She said, eyes blinking away a tear she thought she could share as she hadn't for a moment thought Draco would have stayed.

"Never ask me to do anything like this again. You hear me?" 

Again, she smiled at him... which was odd because she had never smiled at Draco once in her time at school unless she was laughing at him, but now she did it because he was being kind and it was odd but somehow weightless as stones were taken off her worry. Hermione Granger adjusts the bag that was held in a tight fist before nodding and starting across the street. 

 

* * *

   

**Back at the farm.**

It was the next day so he felt less stress and less like a bother even though he was. By night Aven would wave him into the office and closed the door while Ember went out to feed the animals. Landing heavily in the chair, Aven twist and sighed and once facing Severus again he shakes his head.

"Make a new face." He tells the silent man with a heavy sigh. "You look like a waiting dog."

_Have you made up your mind?_

He doesn't want to talk so he withdraws into himself which brings Severus to shake his head disapprovingly. 

_"Tell me."_

Aven turns around and faces his desk with his back to Severus. A popular defense mechanism with animals who would rather not fight, but should also not be poked.

"It.. has to be a public place..."

 _Of course."_ Severus agrees to anything and everything right there, rather surprised the twin turned over so fast.   _"What else?"_

"I don't know. Get the fuck out of my office."

Severus wasn't a stupid man. He wasn't one to push his luck or to act ignorantly when he wins his battles. Severus backs up and walks out of the room. He'll go to his flat. Narcissa will show, and a date will be made. He could be home before Aven would fail to distract his sister that he was gone. Severus had yet to ask about Ember, but that was mostly due to the fact that wasn't up to him. He was well put in his place when it came to his place among the twins and he would play his part knowing the brother would sway his sister just as she swayed everyone else.

....

 

**Paitchi Alley.**

A collection of elite and expensive restaurants, pubs and shops sitting on the bank of a river that moved into the sea. A residential community with tourist posts and hotels nearby. The coastal town was small and locally ran as well as close. Looking at the roofs, it was noted there were wooden paths that connected many of the two-story buildings. Here, you lived over where you worked but even though the town was close, this place is for those like Severus, Aven and Lucius at a restaurant that could be found towards the end in the salt water bogs. The sun had dropped by the time they left and the air was cold and sharp which was a blessing that called for covering scarves, hats, and hoods that fell over foreheads and would conceal identities.

Aven spoke to the hostess at The Fox Hunt, a busy pub and bogside restaurant for a spot in the back near the docks. The rules here are simple. No one identifies nothing but the fixtures and the face of their server. You never to say anything of anything heard, and if you notice someone you think you know, you say nothing unless a mutual, silent connection is made first.

"Ah, yes, Table 29 is already set. Here come this way please."

The three were led through the busy pub and restaurant by the hostess in uniform robes of reds, browns, and oranges and were seated at an offset darkened corner table out of attention and out of most view. The table is empty, Lucius hadn't arrived yet and so Aven sat at the head of the six-person table as  Ember sits on his right side between him and Severus with her fingers curling in her sleeves. She was clinging nervously as she exchanged looks with Aven as menus were placed before them. Eventually, Severus's hand found itself on her knee to calm the fidget which subsided and gave her the strength she needed. Shady, disgruntled patrons were not an odd sight for those in the late night crew, so when the waitress taking drinks asked for Aven to put his wand away, she met angry eyes before throwing a threat for kept control while jotting Severus's orders said through Aven.

Warm drinks for the lot and a side order of appetizers for Ember. She had pestered Aven on the way over and now for what she gave him, he would pay for anything that would keep her content. For thirty minutes they communicated softy and through notes until Severus's personal alarms set off at the feeling of Malfoy aura. He wasn't the only one, moving his eyes back up at Aven and Ember, he noticed eyes had a slit and glared over his shoulder. Severus turned at the waist and watched as Narcissa and Lucius made the corner into proper view led by the waitress from before. It only took seconds, but grey eyes were locked and Severus could feel the goosebumps break over his skin as the air chilled. Objections were heard by surrounding occupants who were seen pulling their shoulders together and calling against at the sudden drop in temperature thought to be due by the outside cold.

Lucius eyed off with Aven for a long moment over the head chair before the aristocratic cat purred his first commentary.

'Am I to assume my placement is that to your left? Am that much of a Judas you to?"

"A Judas is a position, Lucius. A position that if played well enough, I wouldn't truly know the answer too, now would I?"

Lucius sneered a snake smile and pulled the chair to the side for his wife first, before taking a seat as Narcissa exchanged an accepting nod with Severus as she sat. Narcissa sat across from Ember and was probably the most heated spot in the room.

"Severus," Narcissa greeted softly after a moment when the heat of the pub came again to warm, and she pulled out the book and handed it to Severus who took it with his good hand, his wrapped kept under the table and from all view.

"And, Ember." The twins eyes were on Lucius as he pulled a sealed folder from under the table and slid it towards her before giving his first trace of trust by ordering a drink and saying nothing more.

Her hand rose and landed the other side of the downward facing folder, both beings holding it for a moment before eyes connected and Lucius lifted his hand with a smirk. Severus went on to look away to the book in his hands as Aven leaned over and saw the papers Ember pulled and lay out in front of her. Articles, missings reports, Ember and Aven looked through each piece and inspected each thoroughly in a silence that dropped the venom from Lucius's grin. In those moments a sadness of a hard truth befalls the table's occupants as the twins read of articles and the obituaries of both their parent's and then themselves.

"So it's true" Ember sighed in what would be her first real wolds in the last few days as she dropped her own obituary back onto the table.

"I'm sorry.." Narcissa condolences which turned an angry look from both twins.

"For what?" They said in a striking unison through cold, disconnected eyes.

"W...what?" Narcissa smiled glancing between her husband and Severus.

'No, real world Narcissa. What are you sorry for?" Ember asked aloud as Lucius shifted in his seat bringing his back to straighten.

"'That this is what happened.' Narcissa voice strengthened as Lucius radiated warning.

"Wasn't this on your husband's orders?" Aven bit in a cobras snap as his hand swept over the pile.

Lucius rose first and Aven followed quickly, both men wands out as Ember pulled her own wand and locked eyes with Narcissa.

Ember would swear on it, that if it weren't for Severus's hand contact with her robe she would have unleashed Aven onto Lucius. But instead after a moment, her own fingers loosened on her wand and her hand clasped Avens sleeve and pulled for him to down.

And he did.

Stepping down from public drama was not a shame, but an even more rare, control. And Aven sat, dropped his eyes and took a heavy sip of his heavy toxic before placing his hard gaze on his mute friend.

'Why is he here, Severus?" Aven sighed angrily as Lucius lowered back into the chair, raising his own brow at the man he knew for so long.

Looking up between the group of four, he pushed what strength had been growing in his chest out into mental energy enough for all of them.

" _Because he chose to be.'_

It wasn't a long message, but a message that silenced Aven. Up until this point, the Fields and Malfoys couldn't manage in a chance meeting without fighting and spells. In this setting lay a spark Severus had watched for. Ember didn't attack Narcissa outright as she would have in the past, nor did her brother which was a little more unexpected. No matter what reasons made, they acted on control and that had shown the growth needed to regain contact with those of wealth and promises. Now Lucius and Narcissa sat together across and next to Ember and Aven. A message in itself seeing how Lucius stood down and sat on the left.

"Why did you call us here together?" Lucius questioned in what surprised Severus slightly, for Lucius tone held no sarcasm or upper-class showmanship. It seemed the man had slipped into business mode, a mode in which he could work with those he had tried to kill and those he disliked greatly.

And then Severus's eyes turned to Aven and noticed the man watching Lucius carefully as his own behavior shift to that of the blonde snakes. Pulling a folder of his own from his inner robes, Severus placed it down on the middle of the table before glancing towards Ember. She was still glaring at Narcissa. A glare the other woman could feel and although showed little sign, showed enough where Severus could see malice and its effect. This would be ignored for now as the two other men preceded to pull folder over to them and take lists and notes as Severus added his own book to the small pile.

'To get your voice back?" Aven muttered as violet eyes caught Lucius pulling a shopping list towards himself.

Severus tapped his finger once on the table as he took a throat-coating potion before drinking his butterbeer. Time progressed quietly, and at one point Aven knocked Ember in the shoulder and passed her papers, successfully breaking her glare on the woman across from her to look down to read.

Now they were working together.

Lucius and Aven chose papers according to assumed interest. Lucius would take financial, Aven would take stock and procedure. They hated each other, it was very apparent in their eyes and in their body language. But for the moment, it all got put on hold to assist where assistance was needed. That night small words and plans were made between mostly the men. Ember reflected her name and her anger burned silent and she was left alone with her food. In due time Severus and the twins would be receiving proof of the egg and it's gambled life inside which would either help or destroy the chance Severus would have at creating the required elements for the next step in not only his voice but to block the return of a black death. But for now, Severus would keep his mind on the current night. The night where he sat with friends alive, and almost like they had years ago.

He had never doubted the existence of Lucius's friendship with the twins. He knew it had been true, he knew Narcissa did love Ember as a true best friend. But the rift that broke the groups was still there though there were reasons for it to be lost in the bars hazy air. Lucius would always be for pureblood pride, and the twins were pureblood and of high pedigree names. Aven was matching with the men in the group in both asthetic and darkness, and those would attest to the presence of fear the man would create just by standing along the shadows. And then there was Ember. There wasn't a single reason why Lucius wouldn't like her. Not one at all. She was an image of what he wanted in every way; a pure Slytherin in every form.

But again, the rift was still there.

The dark mark sat on his arm as a white scar now. As it did with Lucius, as it did for Narcissa and Draco. It no longer burned, it no longer called, and as long as Severus could keep it that way, the world would continue to strengthen. HIs job was not to destroy, he was nowhere God enough for that. Instead, Severus's job was to delay and that's he would do. In time he would travel to the Order, he would call to the army he knew, and he would contact the Ministry after all it was done. He would call his own because he knew. He knew the vast majority if given the option, would keep the peace as torture had turned Right of Cause into slavery at its most violent.

He knew this, and he would use this knowledge to win.

 


	21. Going from Pause to Play

A/N --- Okay, starting next chapter we're going to tie in the Order! Woot! Bring together Hermione's story as well as Severus's. I've dragged this out way too long. See you next chapter.  

* * *

 

**Going from Pause to Play**

 

**Farmhouse Fire**

They had a fight last night, Aven and Ember. A fight that would make the twins record books.

A fight provoked by a silent month of harsh grey eyes. A month of a held tongue and taken bribes.. After a wrong comment by Aven, the floodgates released and the month of Embers pent hostility was unleashed like a wildfire… Severus knew better than to get involved so he's staying in his bedroom, cross-legged on his bed, looking down at a book he hadn't turned the page of in a very long time.

"Betrayal!? Insubordination!? He hears Aven's voice in tired disbelief, "You use these words so easily but I'm not sure you properly comprehend their meanings."

"Yeah. I know what they mean.." Ember yells. "You kept me here for YEARS and in the matter of a day... What?! We're suddenly back into a world that knows us dead sharing meals with the wife of the devil"

"Do not blame Narcissa for the sins of a deranged husband," Aven said the words he knew were wrong as his fingers crumpled against the envelope in his hand..

"What. The. FUCK, AVEN!" Severus flinches as he heard glass shatter, keeping his dissociation away from his parent's arguments that sounded much the same he turns a page and tries to read the words.

"Have you completely lost your mind! What the fuck is the WRONG WITH YOU!? YOU told me they were evil!! YOU told me never to trust or do business with them. You told me never to leave the FARM!!"

"I know..."

"So where the hell is this all coming from!? Why are you making plans to go to the Manor with these people! Into his HOME. AVEN!"

Aven's response is delayed and when he talks, Severus's can hardly hear him.

"What about Severus?"

"What about him?" She spat with the hint of understanding.

"Like you don't know…" The brother darkens, "Like you're not aware of the truth behind that man. He stood in the corner while Lucius pushed his ways. Severus, the man you made me help though he helped no one. He aided sparsely after the attack that took everything from us then helped none after the death of that Lily woman. Severus turned his back in silence just as Narcissa had, but here he is and has been under your loyalty. You dragged him from the dirt sister..... Pick favorites, do it... But realize what that makes you."

A string of silence that makes him lean forward in his bed and think of cracking the door open with magic just to hear a little better but he doesn't need help to hear the crashing of the front door and he's at the window just in time to see Embers firestorm departure that left behind a cold and heavy void. Aven was foolish and stubborn and refused to chase his sister, stopping at the porch and not granting her a single word as he watched her go. Ember was independent and held strong in her choices. He waits by the stairs and soon Severus will hear the wooden door open and feels the presence of Avens wrath warm the small farmhouse as his heavy steps lead into the kitchen. Severus will slowly start down the stairs and would step into the darkened kitchen silently.

_"Evening."_

"Oh, for Merlin's sake, not you."

Aven was already at the table and was already deep in his drink when Severus made his way into the space taking care to walk around the shattered glass that was scattered across the kitchen floor.

_"She's never left before."_

"You feel her vanished as well?" he looks between his hair as he sits bent over his drink.

It was true. There was a sense of emptiness that ran deeper than just in the home. It was like the land had sagged and paused its self-waiting for life to return like the first warmth of summer.

_"Yes."_

The brother takes another sip, and then another longer as Severus lands behind the table, his hand on the pushed in chair.

"Stupid tart has nowhere to go. She'll be back before dawn."

_"She has Hogwarts."_

Another sip and the room chills and the energy that once belonged to Ember had dissipated. Aven adjusts and leans forward in his seat, again, another flash that pulses a picture of his father from his memories. Severus pulls out the chair and takes his seat across from the red-eyed brother.

"I don't understand you, Severus..." Aven started with a growl. "And I don't understand why my sister finds herself so enchanted with you. She's a smart girl, too smart for you..... She has red flags that she keeps but for some reason, Severus... When it came to you she grew so weak... You never even truly loved her."

Severus's eyes flash but Aven isn't done here yet the bottle slams on the table.

"And look what happens to you. Why are you down here? I know you love shoving your noes into any fight we have but... Has she pulled you out with her flight? Or are you on your way out to see the gravestone of Lilly Potter."

He says nothing but sits back in his chair.

"You should have died... Even you can't fathom what your throat looked like..... Honestly, I thought you were to close to death to save but no... Ember has to be O blood type, doesn't she? She's just... is built to aid everyone."

"Where did she go?"

"Not to the Manor. I told you this would push her too far.. This pushed me too far, I shouldn't have even brought it up.. There was never a real excuse for me to walk onto that property..."

_"Afraid."_

"Yes."

Severus blinks and Aven will give a small chuckle while taking another sip from the bottle.

"You think me that heartless?" Avens head cocks. "Yes... I am afraid of the Malfoy family influence... I am afraid of Bellatrix. And I am afraid that I don't know where my sister has gone. Let's just hope it's somewhere safe and shes back before dawn."

The bottle is offered to Severus and he won't know if it's insulting or just Aven being drunk and treating him like an actual person. He had been sober since his death, the burn of anything more than soda would tear and rip his throat. He shakes his head but will hope just the same as he.

........

**Fire Freedom**

What exhilaration she feels when her footsteps over the boundary and she's free from the birdcage that has held her for the last decade. It was like the air was different, clearer, less polluted with magic and human feel. She's alone and will stop a fair way away to finally glance back. Her heart slams on her chest and her breath is heavy but she'll hold them both as she waits to hear anything. There's nothing, no one followed her and for the moment the world feels very very big. Another step back is another step towards the port key that will take her away and into the city. Another step... Nothing. No one. Another... no one... Her heel touches the heavy wooden box and she's gone from the spot with a sharp breath in and a pop in the air.

She hadn't been free for the longest time, she hadn't been out in longer, and she hadn't been alone for even longer than that. She lands on a cement street in an alleyway behind the tall city buildings of blood-red brick. Where to go? What was the same? Who could she talk too... Who could she expose herself too without exposing everyone... She bites her lip as she twists on the spot and her wand rolls over her fingers. She apparates again and when she lands she feels a wash of familiarity as the stone archway comes into view. To one side, a huge lake to the other, a forest as dark and full of horrors from her nightmares. She carries on the warm path up the hills and past the half-giants house that had windows lit and smoke trailing from the stone block chimney. She remembered where the secret ground floor stairwell was that lead right up to the headmaster's office and would use this and walk the path until the blackness stopped with the back of a portrait that was already opening as she approached. 

The office Ember entered was not one of the transfiguration teacher, but that of the Headmaster Albus Dumbledore, replaced by that of Headmaster Snape who never once was able to enjoy the position, to Minerva who stood at the side of the massive, ancient wooden desk. Surprised, the old woman dressed in sleeping wear turned around as if she heard the memory in Embers mind before she entered the space. At first look, Minerva's stone face broke to a sadness that meshed with happiness.

"The walls have been rebuilt beautifully," Ember remarked quietly, remembering the walk in through the courtyard and halls.

"It took some time. Our student population is finally normalizing but class expectation has held strong." Minerva nodded her head and placed two cups of hot tea by the small table which motioned Ember away from the opening and towards the comfortable chairs by the fireplace.

Ember followed and sat in an overstuffed dark red armchair and allowed her eyes to drift on the crackling fire as Minerva watched her, bubbling over with silent questions. The silence unwanted continued with only the ticking of the clock and the crackling of the flames. Ember went on to drink her drink, Minerva did the same. Embers eyes never straying from the fireplace, Mcgaonall's never leaving her. The air had become very heavy indeed. Realizing, Ember placed the cup down and said the first words in almost ten minutes.

"Severus is fine."

The statement was so blunt and blank but a wash of relief came over the woman who leaned forward in the chair.

"Please, tell me something."

Her eyes went to Minerva and studied the women openly for a moment before looking away.

"He's getting better." She whispered feeling the ghost touch of his fingers on her skin. "He's getting restless. I'm sure he'll be back in your world sooner rather than later."

It was news she longed to hear for so long, and her hands covered her mouth as her eyes closed and a breath was taken.

"Thank you." Minerva wouldn't push. "What brings you to Hogwarts?"

Now it was Ember who fought words; figuring out a way to answer but failing, only feeling the scars of betrayal. Instead, Ember landed on changing the topic.

"Professor,-"

"Minerva."

"Minerva." Ember corrected, the name feeling strange on her tongue.

"Yes?"

"Do you think people can change?"

It was a hard question where Ember thought of Lucius and Narcissa, and where she thought of Severus... but said nothing at all. The woman was wise and watched the younger girl with interest before leaning back into her chair and taking a sip of tea before answering.

"I believe if one wants to change, one can change. I also believe if you do not give open chance, you will never find out."

"Is that how you trusted, Severus?"

The name was dropped with suddenness and with weight on both women hearts, and Minerva lowered her gaze to her tea, "Yes."

Ember looked away from the Headmistress. "I'm afraid too," she admitted quietly to the crackling flames.

"Aren't we all?"

Ember glanced back which prompted Minerva to continue.

"You are going to die. There is no escape, there is no limitless end for us, only luck. The way I see it, you can fear or you can accomplish. I mean, you are here all on your own. No Aven, no. Severus." The name was harder to speak on the women than Ember expected. "you traveled here all by youself. But, I remember a girl who gave us quite a fight as to class schedules so that she wouldn't be forced far from her twin. But now.. so independent..."

"I miss him." She puffed a sad admitting.

"How many days have you been separated?"

"Maybe two hours."

"You know... A lot of us miss, Severus."

Ember nodded. "I know..." 

"What does Ember want to do?"

She thought long and hard until an address came to mind and her smile opened.

"I want to go see, Jessa."

"Then to off to Ms. Katellas. First thing in the morning though." Minerva spoke with a chipper in her voice. "Tonight, I will set you up in a temporary room. Would that be acceptable?"

A smile came over Ember the same moment a thought came into her head.

"You can't write to the house." She started looking at the happy looking Fawks.

"And I won't. Just don't leave your brother to long." Minerva spoke calmly.

The conversation changed and continued lightly until the tea was empty and Ember was yawning.

"Off to bed." Minerva clapped her hands, a familiar unsteady feeling of year lapsing taking over Ember as she stood.

The Headmistress would guide Ember to a guest room not far down the hall, and with a good night from the head of Gryffindor and another set of thank you's, Ember was laying down in a warm bed, falling asleep almost immediately.

...

The next morning she was up with the first class bell, and quickly prepared herself for departure while snacking on a sent-up breakfast before opening the portrait door. It must have been a curse, some kind of Karma she was due. She figured as she met eye contact with none other than Draco Malfoy who had been passing by from the Headmistresses office that at the same time that this was an act of the world against her. At once, both beings stopped frozen, eyes locked, minds blank. Draco was the last person she wanted to see besides perhaps his father. As she stood across from him now, she stumbled words of a fake name as she shuffled by him, apologizing for her rudeness before skirting off leaving the wordless man to stand to watch her disappear down the hall.

She had to leave and had to leave now. Out of every person besides the parents themselves, Draco was not the person she needed to see here. There wasn't anything dark between them, she and Aven had been "dead" before the boy was even a being. But he knew Severus, and she knew she had the mans essence on her. She knew she carried memories in her mind and behind her eyes, she knew his presence was on her robes and on her skin was an aura she could never rid herself of. She knew Draco was smart, which is why she needed to leave.

But Draco had other plans.

He had met her around a corner, arriving first and using his body to hit into hers when she predictably took a sharp corner. His arm went around her collar and he hissed for calm before releasing her.

"Draco," She started, only bringing the man to interrupt her.

"So you do know me?" His voice was quiet, his mental scars scanning for potential life in eye view of them.

"Well. I mean.. Your dad. and.. you. Your mom. umm. All look alike." The words came out in a panic jumbled mess which raised an eyebrow from the richly dressed young man.

"I know you."

Embers mouth opened but nothing came out and was closed a moment later. Her silence was her answer, and Draco stepped back narrowing his eyes, "I don't know what you're doing here but I know who you are. "

"Draco." She tried to plead innocents,

"You're Ember Fields -" He stated with fact.

"Draco that's silly, Ember is dea-"

"Shut up." His voice snapped and she silenced herself narrowing her own eyes in the process.

"You are Ember Fields. Aren't you?"

There was something in his grey eyes. Something behind the clouds and the sea that lit like a lighthouse in a storm and Ember felt her shoulders loosen.

"Just.. Come on. Don't do this here."

They couldn't talk here and he knew that too, so as she turned to walk away she'd invited him to follow. Draco took a look around once more, flicked his wand to blank any listener, and took to stride after Ember. He followed her wand out, eyes on her back the entire way. He wasn't pressing any hatred, he was radiating pain and walls. Unlike his father, Draco did love. He did feel. And like his father and mother, he felt much too deeply. She knew Severus was a huge part of Draco's young life as Severus had communicated about it a few times in the past. He spoke of how he was like a secondary father. Not a very good one, not much different from Lucius, but had been with Draco the entire school years and all of his life until his death.

And that is why she would tell Draco.

 _That_ is why once over the bounds of the school, she grabbed his arm and took them off into the air.

The place she took them to was a place for her. A large burned down home on a large property, privately located behind gates and shrubbery, now a sale lot for those who didn't fear cruse, and covered in Caution tape. They landed inside the properties high walls, and Draco looked around confused before turning to see Ember had started up the front stairs.

"Where are we?" Draco asked after he caught up and watched her pulling planks from the door.

"I'll explain in a moment. Help me with this."

Draco took out his wand that brought upon the violent response of Ember that clutched her hand around his wrist and pushed his wand arm down.

"No magic."

Nodding his head he watched her fingers loosen and slip from his arm before turning around. Slipping his wand away, Draco takes the other side of the board and helps pry off a small opening to brass lock and watches her take a heavy black key that hung around her neck. Placing the key in the lock, she utters a few words before a clicking was heard and the door opened.

"Come on. I'll explain inside." She assures the blond man as she slips between the planks and disappears inside.

The inside the home that Draco entered was immediately shown as burnt and forgotten. The wallpaper framed pictures and littered furniture are all destroyed and dust covered. The tapestries were burnt upwards and hung in strings, as books and pages littered the ground bunt away in halves, their covers gone of titles and bindings mixed with the threads of the once magnificent rug that lay underneath. The air inside came thick and scented of fire and death while floating specks of dust and molds hung in the air illuminated in the few rays of moonlight. She watches as his lip doesn't turn upwards, but instead, he steps further in, looking at everything around him for a long moment.

"What is this?" The blond man asked as he turned around to face Ember after a moment.

"This is a memory. My memories." She sighed looking through the entryway as they walked side by side. "This is the end of me and my brother. This is what your father did to me, what your mother ignored, and what Severus didn't try to stop. This is my house, and where my parents were killed by your father's orders."

Draco stopped his steps and looked straight at her and Ember believed if she had her wand drawn, he would have attacked her right then and there.

"Why are you telling me this?" His voice growled, his image matching that of Lucius.

"I don't know." Ember sighed, turning to look out a large bay window now fogged and burnt. "I don't know why I brought you here. I don't know why I'm saying any of this to you but I think you should know about Severus."

Draco's body physically loosened but Ember was not watching to see it. His hand dropped from his wand as he watched her drop into a burnt unstable looking kitchen chair by a collapsed and burnt away kitchen table. He watched her look around and felt the sadness from in her soul.

"I'm sorry." He pushed from his walls bringing her took look at him.

"You weren't even born." She sighed, a smile on her face.

"Doesn't make it right."

"I know."

She looked at him. Looked him over on his skin and clothing, she looked him over inside before breaking a small smile and tilting her head.

"Draco... You aren't like your father.. are you?"

"No."

She smiled at his stone confidence, and her arm stretched out, fingers open to him which after a moment he walked up to her and took. Once standing she ran a hand over his cheek and looked at him warmly as he shut his eyes to her warm touch.

"Severus Snape is alive and rather well. Your mother and father are aiding his healthy return."

"Why wouldn't they tell me," Draco's voice came throated and tense, still with his eyes shut.

"Because it wasn't their place. But know... He's is getting better and will make it back into the world. He misses you.. And has talked about you before."

He hugged her then. A hug that wasn't meant entirely for her but she wraps her arms around him. He's gripping his pain, he was relieving the stress he held for the last few years. He was hugging her as he was hugging Severus himself. In that moment, Ember realized how badly the death of Severus impacted Draco and she felt for him in a sadness of the heart. He was just a boy. Still a child without a childhood. A man stretching for security in a time of warmth.

"You can't tell anyone." She whispered in his ear and he felt his head nod and her body lift up from the ground.

She hugged him tightly before she was placed down on her feet and they broke apart for Draco to look away but maintain his facing her. His hands now shoved in his pockets, his feet planted awkwardly, but Ember wasn't ready to leave but was ready for Draco to depart when his voice came up.

"I don't want to go back to the Manor yet." His voice was lost and cold.

"I don't want to go home right now, either."

That day, both would go through the house quietly, each with their own strange agendas this being both their first time in the burnt, forgotten home. Ember had yet to return since the year of the attack, and as far as Aven went, her intuition told her that he had only stood outside the gate once before.. Draco chose to stay and would follow her about the house, getting his hands and clothing sooty as he periodically went through the broken burnt pieces and flipping over objects with his hands. He didn't know what she was looking for, and made logic she was looking for everything and nothing at once. Not expecting a find much, he would watch as she touched bubbled pictures and scuffed her feet against burnt objects. He followed her until she went up the stairs when he felt the discomfort radiating her present stress. She traveled past blanked doors and stopped in front of one, bringing Draco to stop a few doors away and watch.

Her parent's room.

If she was to find anything, it would be here, but it would be hard. Not the door, the door would open on turn, but her feet suddenly felt like stone and her hands were shaking nervously. For Ember, the entire home had been like walking through a dream. She had looked passed the burning and the black and saw was used to be. But now, the deathly silence dropped like a boulder onto her shoulders and everything felt real all at once.

"Ember."

Draco's voice was quiet but heard and she nodded her head before taking a deep breath and raising her hand before stalling again. Her hand hovered mere inches from the handle but she stands frozen, fighting herself to continue against a force all in her own head.

"Ember." He was behind her now, a hand landing on her shoulder and giving a tightening twitch.

"I miss them, Draco." She admits for no reason other than to say it to someone.

"I know."

Her hand lands on the cold handle and she pushes the door open and steps inside.

A cold green haze still hovers overhead as the stench and feeling of death overwhelmed Draco who stayed outside the threshold as Ember walked in.

"Both of my parents were killed here." Her finger extended to a spot on the floor, "Dad died here on the floor. Mum...mum was killed in bed."

"How did you get out?"

"I had slept in Avens room that night... We escaped by hiding in the crawl space between the walls."

"Oh."

She wouldn't blame Draco for not knowing what to say, and his innocents made her smile as she dragged her fingers over the dusty, holed bureau. She went into a drawer and frowned when a box of her mother's jewelry she was hoping on was gone and stepped back on her heel with a sigh. It was a fad of the day inside the home, it had been ripped apart and things were taken for money and trade leaving nothing Ember could connect with her parents. Turning around and biting her tongue in thought, she goes across the floor and kneels down, checking floorboards to find the loose one. Removing the remainder of the rug, Ember put her heel through a single board that splits with a sharp crack. Getting on her knees and feeling the floor under the wood planks, Ember pulled a forearm length box from the floor and brought it out for Draco to see with a smile.

"This is what I want."

"What is it?"

The smile continued to grow as she wrapped an arm around Draco's and stared him off in the direction down the hall, shutting the double hinged door behind her. She pulled him to her and down the stairs, landing herself at in the parlor by the fireplace of many memories now signed away. Again the ash and destruction break her soul but this had happened long ago and she had what she wanted anyway.

"Help me make a fire." She says, placing the box on the floor and begins loading a few tossed logs the theft crew left as they emptied the house of value.

Draco's lip turned up as the orders of the day began to pile and the mule in his ways began to halt him.

"What?" She asked sharply after she loaded a few logs into the fireplace without him.

"Don't tell me what to do."

Ember stopped and raised from her spot, wiping ash from her hands. She stared at Draco for a long time, a time enough to make the boy begin to fidget under her dark glare. Without a word or action further, she knelt back down and snapped a fire between her fingers that she used to start a fire.

"You can leave." She said impatiently.

"I know."

"So choose either to leave, or lose trivial things. A fire will help both of us so you should help build something that will help you."

Her words were less than eloquent but he understood her brashness and knelt down at her side and handed her kindling as the sun dipped lower.

"So." Draco started after the fire was large and warm and he sat on a dusted off a portion of the floor, "What's in the box?"

....

Very early into that morning Draco would grow cold and eventually leave the dilapidated place and Ember found herself walking alone along the city sidewalks in a faze among muggles. When she was hungry she would stop and eat, when she was tired, she would pick a bench and sit, but as she walked the streets of nighttime city life she walked alone. Her aimlessness leads her into a black, darkened neighborhood where everyone had front yard gates. Suddenly, she tastes the dirt of evil and quickly finds herself turning in a circle as suddenly all the houses looked the same. The omen of darkness sits in the silence of the city. In the distance, a car alarm rings out and Ember would turn to face three, taller men standing in the middle of the road, silhouetted and shadowed under the street light of the still intersection.

"Fuck off!" She yelled at them as she flipped them off and started walking away, stopping when she heard the sounds of following steps. Turning around they were closer, their faces still covered, a sense of magic warning her of strong abilities.

A small cackle broke from the darkness and Ember jumped out of the way of a landing cloud, the form of Bellatrix stepping from the haze. Her laughter shook through Embers spine as the women waved her wand carelessly.

"Well, well, well."

Embers attempt to disapparate would only go as far as the sudden, thorny vein that broke from the tar and wrapped around her ankle, bringing her back, plunging her painfully onto the ground. A round of curses would erupt from both women before a break to allow another cackle from Bellatrix and a moment for Ember to stand.

"How did you do it?" Bellatrix spits her question.

"I just had to undermine your total lack of intelligence and run out the back door."

"You can't be serious."

A blast of curses would light the air between the women before another break for conversation would be had.

"So, I'm guessing your brother is dead?"

"Why would you think that?"

"Haven't you heard from him?"

It was a game, Ember convinced herself. She hadn't been home, but at the same time, Bellatrix was in front of her now.

"How did you find me?"

"Crucio"

With a hard wave of her wand, Ember broke the curse and attempted to apparate while covered within it's crashing light. Alas, a wrap tightened her ankle and she'd hit the ground again, her cheek splitting on the concrete as she missed her shoulder and landed right on her temple. Next came the sharp pain of blunt force as the long point of the sharp heel of Bellatrix's shoe broke through the skin of her other cheek as she turned from magic fighting to blunt force hits. In her daze, Ember felt the dripping of blood race down her face and found her fight. With a hard, gasping heave, she breathed out the pain of a sudden penetration that ripped through her stomach and shoved the magic outwards throwing Bellatrix away. She was cocky because she'd miss the flash but not the rip of a blade that rips through the skin of her shoulder.  Bellatrix's laughter cackles like lightning with the burning heat of the fierceness of evil as a fire rips through her flesh bringing her back to a very dark time in her past. She recognizes the cold and recognizes how quickly the pain spreads down her arm numbing her grip that refused to hold her wand.

A heavy force is on her shoulder from behind and yanks her back forcing her to stumble back into a black-clothed creature who pulled from it's blackened cloud, spells already flying as another step from behind him. 

"Aven!" The shrill call came from Bellatrix in excitement as both spells were easily broken.

Ember turned from the invisible force that dragged her back and found her vision clear on the sight of her brother standing off where she once stood, wand out and power furious. Who holds her is Severus who is glaring over her head, his eyes on Bellatrix as he pulls her behind him. 

"Good of you to join us," Bellatrix cooed, taking one of the few steps she was forced to take back as she looked at the two tall men who had been standing quietly watching the entire time. "And.. Severus Snape... Can that really be you?"

"Avada Kadavra!" Aven said without a thought and in a moment the spell flew from his fury, sending Bellatrix back in a pure overwhelming shove of his power as she broke through it.

"Aven, Stop" Embers voice was ignored as both men stood on the front lines now.

"Avada Kadavra!" Aven pushes again, the power strike turning the night time space a quick shade of green.

Bellatrix screamed as she stumbled back. "Just stop! I want to fucking talk to Severus!"

But Aven would not stop, he would not listen, he would not hear. He felt the blood of his sister fall. He knew of her cheek and the knife wound she tried at that very moment to hold closed. He had heard the blade rip from her flesh and felt right where the wound pained her. Curse after curse, Aven was finished with patience and listening, and released without a second thought a well-awaited fury into the darkness of the abandoned streets onto the unfortunate foes who could never stand up to the power of his tainted blood driven by the rage of what he held inside. He set the lawns around them on fire and broke the concrete below all their feet and as Ember watched from under the healing hand of Severus. She witnessed the scream Bellatrix would give, she would scream the name of the silent Potions professor before she and her defeated men would vanish from the streets altogether. With the battle seemingly over the world dimmed to the silence. She watched her brother stand stalk for a moment, glaring down the now empty streets before turning and walking back towards them.

"Are you alright?" He asked as car sirens rang in the air, love in his voice as well as concern.

"I'm alright." She tried to say, using her mouth as little as possible as Severus pressed a towel against her gushing wounds.

Aven nodded a grim nod before looking up at the silent man who was busy with bloodied hands.

"Stop." He told Severus who took a step away. "The brother slipped both hands under his sister and lifted her gently from heavy legs hushing his sister's groans of pain.

"Where are we going?" He asked her as her head rest against his shoulder, waiting for her to tell him her desired location.

"I'm ready, Av." Her eyes dampened as she held the cloth to her face as her wounded arm hung limply under powerful poisons. "I want to go home."

...

......

.........

 

 

 

The travel home was easy for both men and Severus did everything he could to make them near untraceable as the brother worried about his sister, his only worry being of dropped and left blood. Aven said nothing to Severus as there was an anger boiling inside the man that would not be unleashed in front of the wounded sister. He was furious and Severus would say nothing as he normally would and remained wand drawn behind Avens shoulder. Severus would follow until the first steps to the front door, when Aven would stop upon the first stair of the house and turn, casting a glare directly at the man who stopped in his spot.

"You can stay out here," Aven said blankly.

" _I'll check the Phoenix."_ His thoughts passed.

An eyebrow was raised and Aven shook his head and leaned closer to Severus, using the slightly given height to cast his eyes down at him.

"You. Can stay out here."

Aven would turn around without another word and Severus, with feet planted, watched Aven walk up the old wooden steps where he was met by the door holding house elves who had medical kits in hand and passed concerned glances as the brother moved by. Severus would stand in the yard for a long minute after the doors were closed and shadows moved behind the curtain of her front facing bedroom before he looked away from the house. His fingers raised to his fabric covered throat as he turned to the darkened, moon drenched forest and farm grounds as he pushed down the bubbling thoughts. Bellatrix had seen him. She had called his name out. She would go and report to the others….

"Are you kidding me?" A thundering voice came from the front door and Severus turned too quickly for his neck, to see Aven slowly coming down the few stairs.

"Don't look at me like you don't know." He bit, "You're out here while she's in there how she is, and all you can think about is yourself."

" _I asked to come in."_

"Regardless." Aven allowed his anger to control his logic. "You did nothing to help her."

" _I went straight to aid her."_

"Fuck you!" Aven forced his undirected anger at the only individual he could.

" _I assure you, Ember would do that most willingly."_

Avens hand snapped around Severus's throat in a flash. It was a painful, potentially devastating move but the mans weight came down on the healing whose feet slipped into the position of stability. At the first sign of burning in his throat, Severus gave a hard punch that landed into Avens stomach that would loosen the grip for the second he needed. Both men would falter with wands still strapped onto their hips but Avens had was quick to return to the throat landing another sharp hit what would bring the man to his knees. The fingers squeezed as arms pushed down and Severus tasted blood as he turned tail and gave up as his second knee touched the cold, grassy soil as he tried again, this time in vain to knock away the hands of his attacker.

"I'll kill you for this.. You disgusting, ungreatful-"

"Well, well, well." A voice as quiet as the breeze but heard by both men come from the darkness stopping the fight and bringing both men to look up.

"What the fuck are you doing here?!" Aven yelled to space as he released Severus, his wand pulled with bloodied fingers from inside his robe.

"That's rude." The figure stepped from the shadows and into the moonlight exposing distinguishable features such as the long, blond hair and expensive, black robe set while the silver snake head of his caned glittered beautifully in the hanging moonlight.

"Get out." Aven bit, unsure of his stance but acting as no fool against a possible attack. He had taken Bellatrix, Lucius wasn't going to be a challenge. 

"You have a nice little place here." Lucius looked around the farm for the first time, his wand remaining in the cane, "I can honestly say, that I would have never found it."

"Get out!" Aven pointed his wand at the man who started approaching one slow step at a time, eventually stopping a few feet away.

"Just a moment," Lucius spoke in broken sincerity as his arms went to wrap around his back, a motion that stopped as Aven's eyes narrowed.

"Get out!" Repeated Aven as Lucius' arms were dropped to the side respectfully.

"What will that prove, Aven? I have the location." The older man sighed.

"And you'll give it over if I don't listen to whatever you have to say?"

"Actually, no." The way in which Lucius admit to no treachery was as cool as the sitting air and as his eyes cast for a moment towards the ground, his head tilts in a half nod before returning to Aven.

"I don't believe you." Avens voice was but a whisper.

"Understandably…"

"What do you want, then!?"

"First, I want to make sure that  _he_ is okay." Lucius's gloved hand pointed to the still kneeling Severus.

Looking down at his side, Aven seemed to notice the wrong and though both men sported bruising, faces intentionally missed, when Aven extended his hand Severus would take it.

"Severus." Aven nodded a simple apology as Severus stood to his feet and brushed off himself half caring, his eyes turning upwards to Lucius.

"Good." Defiance on Lucius's tongue, "Now, as part of our truce I feel obliged to inform you, I held no part in what happened tonight."

"Bullshit."

"But, in light of events," Lucius continued unfazed, "I have come to offer a deal."

'Get out."

"Listen and I will."

"How, the bloody hell did you even find your way here anyway!?"

"Ah. A question that warrants an explanation." Lucius nodded. "I admit I was conscious of the attack though held no part in it, I came forth afterward and cleaned up Embers trace before Bellatrix returned… But," His eyes rose to the house, "in order to clean up the entire trace.. I had to follow it until the very end."

"You didn't have to come all the way."

"Curiosity killed the cat" Lucius shrugged. "But satisfaction brought it back."

"Your presence is not wanted here. Leave my land."

"I know."

"So go! You did the job well, why are you here?"

Lucius said nothing but turned his eyes to Severus for a moment before looking back at Aven and adjusting his neck. It seemed as though whatever Lucius had to say, it was important and after a moment, Avens shoulders would soften as Lucius looked up in a lighter than normal expression.

"I admit, the last few years of lacking torture has been.. comfortable." Lucius began in a slight, uncharacteristic weakness, "And, perhaps, after some thought, I may have grown accustomed to a life with less….. Intensity…"

"So your blood indifferent now?"

"Never." The harshness was back as Lucius glared at Aven before loosening his gaze.

" _He doesn't want to be apart of death anymore."_

Lucius wouldn't look at Severus and seemed to look over Aven at that moment as well, but old friends could see there was indeed damage written on the man who was as cold as ice.

"Things were never supposed to get a bad as they did... I admit torture onto our own was never in the description. And in the end, I perhaps knew something was wrong for a long time."

"And, what now?" Aven looked Lucius over suspiciously.

"Will you listen?"

"If I don't?" Aven tested.

"I will walk away and erase this from my mind. Willingly.."

"Would you?" Aven's voice was venom.

Lucius sighed and cracked his neck as he looked up at the sky for a flash.

"Yes. Bellatrix saw Severus and she has made that point loudly to everyone who will listen. This information is just as dangerous for me to hold, as it is for you to allow me to keep."

" _I might just listen."_ Severus projected earning both a glare and a nod at the same time from two sides. " _After all, we are in Parlay."_

Aven looked from Severus to Lucius, before nodding, "What about Bellatrix?" Aven swept his hand as he crossed his arms.

"I hate that bloody woman too. You, Severus and Ember have known that since the schoolyard.."

"So. You're good?" Aven asked with a cocked eyebrow.

"I don't wish for any darkness here."

"You want to know what I think?!" A female voice rang over the men and Severus and Aven turned to see Ember dressed in a long, black and green plaid button-down shirt that belonged to her twin, her from standing barefoot on the porch in a pair of shorts that just peaked from under the shirt. .

"You what to know what I think?" Ember said again, hate-filled in her voice as she made her way stiffly down the stairs with one hand holding her weak arm, the damage on her face blocked with a bone white bandage..

"I think, Lucius Malfoy set the entire thing up. I think, Lucius Malfoy told Bellatrix about us and Severus and will tell Bellatrix about this house. I think Lucius is part of this safety distribution plot where I'm attacked, he snakes his way during the pain and helps make bad decisions were we allow him to keep this location and to return to it."

Aven turned back and crooked an eyebrow at Lucius, "A rebuttal... Malfoy?"

"Why do I want to watch my son screaming in the pain that I put him into?" His words simmered the flame who kept eyes on his storming grey ones that held right on her. "Why do I want to watch my wife bleed under the wand of, Tom? Why do I want to keep building memories of tortured screams? Why, if I have the opportunity to live without darkness or murder or torture while still keeping my fortune, why would I want to give it up for bloody chaos?"

"Because you like it!" Ember yelled stalling on the bottom step. "Because you have always been this strange kid who liked killing animals and throwing glass mud pies at Muggle-borns. The world is pain, Lucius! Life is pain. And you have caused a lot of it on purpose while you smiled!" Ember spat as she landed at the side of Severus; sending an intentional message and adding pressure to the men.

"What do I need to do?" Lucius asked.

"Why do you want to be here so bad!?"

"Because," Lucius stalled.

"Because, what? Lucius!"

" _Because he's done_ _."_

"Okay, thank you Severus, but I think he can talk for himself." Ember rolled her eyes.

" _No. He can't... Not like this."_

Ember watched Severus as he watched Lucius and she huffed and shook her head as Aven looked at Severus before passing his a glance back to his sister then Lucius.

"Fine." Lucius shook his head and pulled objects from his pocket.

"Severus. Tell us what this is." Lucius said while holding out a clouded, silver vial.

" _Memory lapse."_

"Yes. And this is a donation." Lucius floated a large purple velvet purse in the air between them before taking the vial back from, Severus.

Looking at the group of three, he took the vial with ease and swallowed its contents without issue with closed eyes. A moment passed where Lucius shoulders would soften, and when his eyes opened his expression turned to that of an emotionless mute..

"I and my wife, offer protection from Bellatrix and her kind. In return, I ask for nothing but a chance. I will leave my one-way keyport here." A silver necklace was floated aside the bag of coins. "Now, I will walk away and return home where I will go to sleep and forget all of this, including your location. I do promise now though, I did clear the path and no one will ever find this place. You owe me nothing for that."

"Why are you doing this?" Ember asked in less flame.

"Because I can't live like that again."

"What do you mean?"

But Lucius would say no more. He would look at Severus, then Aven, and then Ember before bowing his head, turning on his heel, and simply walking away into the darkness where a quiet departing pop was heard.

...

"Ember we have to talk about this." Aven would press to Ember who wouldn't hear any of it.

"I know." She said with a fake smile, "And we will. But not tonight. Tonight. I'm in pain, and Severus has been touching his throat since you tried killing him.. So.. I'm turning my attention to that. Severus." She turned to the man who was standing in the darkness of the kitchen and who incidentally dropped his hand from his throat the moment attention is placed on him, "Are you okay?"

His glare was placed on no one but he stepped into the light and waved his hand for a napkin that floated from the table into his palm. Sharply spitting into the napkin, Severus lowered the square to the table top, the light above showing a deepness of red against the tan wipe.

"Shit!" Aven swore loudly, turning away from the bloodied napkin.

"Well, let's get this taken care of…" Ember rolled her eyes as her fingers grazed the wound on her cheek.

"And for the reason you're touching your wounds, you're going to bed," Aven ordered.

"Excuse me?"

"Go. To. Bed. Ember."

"I want to help."

"You've helped enough tonight."

"Excuse me?"

Aven turned away, the anger of night rising as it was in her, and he chose not to fuel any further, instead of taking a breath and turning back,

"Ember," Aven sighed, "You're hurt and that hurts me. I have been through a lot tonight as I know you have as well.. Please, just, go lay down.."

Her eyes flickered from her brother to Severus, her hand tightly wrapped around her shoulder until a sigh breaks from her heart and she turns around and walks away into the shadows of the rest of the house, destined for her room as Aven turned to Severus.

"Severus…"

" _Leave it."_ He thought, not wanting to participate in any more emotional tidings.

"Do you need help?" Aven asked awkwardly.

" _Some syringes. Besides that, I can take care of everything."_

"I can-"

"Aven..."

And they would. Together without incident, Aven would assist Severus as he pulled together potions and vials to fix the brothers mistake. Like back in the days of school, Aven would fall into a follower position to Severus, a feeling Lucius never allowed in his any of his years. Secretly, it was why Severus favored the presence of the twins over Lucius. Aven knew how to fall back into a secondary position. Aven knew how to listen and follow instruction. There was no aristocratic financial pedestal and Aven never thought himself any better than Severus. They worked together, their leadership a see-saw game of who knew best in what situation. They worked well together, and Severus liked that.

But, he loved Ember more...

Late that night, when Aven went out to smoke and drink the night away and Severus finished cleaning the tabletop of medical and blood, his silent steps crawled his tired body upwards as his fingers traced the bandage that wrapped his neck. He would follow a familiar route to her room and knock on the door before the wooden door opened before him. Ember was at the desk, pausing the writing in her journal with the quill still up. She looked at him as he entered and closed the door behind him.

" _How are you?"_ He asked, his connection fuzzy, a reflection of his exhaustion.

"Tired." She admits putting down the quill and turning to face him fully.

" _Your shoulder?"_

"She knows her potions.... But the feeling is coming back slowly."

Ember would stand from her seat and find herself in his arms with a just a few steps later, her taste on his lips as he grazed her neck with his scarred fingertips. Dropping her neck back she guides his mouth to hers with her the good side of her cheek, and tightens her fingers on his shirt as his own fingers break to the skin under her shorts. Slow steps are taken back as her fingers break under his shirt and he transfers his weight against her smaller figure as he slowly takes her down onto her bed, a breath escaping when her fingers pull back his belt and find her way to his ecstasy.

"Are you sure?" She asks once coming up for air and she hears his breath fade over her now naked shoulder.

" _T_ _hat's usually my question."_

When she says nothing more he pulls her shirt over her head and explores her more hidden and sensitive skin as she falls into the ecstasy of blankets, skin, and scars.


End file.
